Winter sport at Jervis Bay.

“Gill-birds make nice pies”

When I came across this photograph amongst the museum's collection, I found it quite amazing and intriguing, It had me wondering what this scene was all about. It shows a very well dressed man in a three-piece suit with his watch chain neatly hanging from the waistcoat, white shoes and hat holding a string of dead birds in the main street of Huskisson outside the Federal Villa, (where Angels Cafe is located today). The car has a driver and other well-dressed passengers with suitcases tied to the running board. Why is this man holding a string of dead birds?  Where are they going? What has he been doing? I had to try and find out. I searched our records, but couldn't find anything more, I then started looking at old newspaper articles that had any content regarding bird hunting and finally came across the article below.  “Outdoor Australia” with the subheading “Winter Sport at Jervis Bay.”1912, Sydney Mail

“The little township of Huskisson, which has only sprung up of late years, has become a favourite resort for fishermen and shooters.   There is comfortable accommodation in the boarding houses, a fine beach for surfing, splendid fishing, and in winter time Gillbirds coming in numbers afford good shooting and make nice pies.” Now I had to find out what Gill Birds were, I had never heard the term before.

“Gill - Birds, in this case, turned out to be a species better know as the Wattlebird. They're known for their queer almost human call, suppose to be “Polly, be careful, Pickpocket.” is rather appropriate, as they are great fruit thieves, though also insectivorous.”