Fishing and Tagine Cooking Fish at Elliston South Australia

6/16/2020

Waterloo Bay Elliston Massacre Commemorated

One of the best places to fish is in the early evening off the Elliston pier at beautiful Waterloo Bay,
According to the Elliston [Official Tourism Website] Eyre Peninsular, "Elliston is known for its rugged, scenic coastline and as a great place for fishing, swimming, surfing and bush walking." I will vouch for all of that.

I did find that website's history of Elliston offensive by omission of mention (when I researched it) of the first Australians. No mention whatever, at the time I checked it, that Elliston is the site of a cruel and shocking massacre of the first Australians, about two-hundred Aboriginals, men, women and children, were herded to their deaths over those cliffs.
mentioned in the history of Elliston on the Elliston website with a neglect to mention that those first European. settlers, proudly remember in the websites history of Elliston, were the ones who attempted genocide of the traditional carers of the land they acquired by force.

Read how the process of erecting a monument to the Aboriginal victims of an 1840s massacre near a remote South Australian town has shown history can be as fluid as its narrator.By Tim Elliott
JANUARY 25, 2020
Why not be open and honest about our past?
Yes, I know there are now memorials in Elliston telling was happened. There was only denial when I was there over a decade ago. But then, fishing communities can be secretive, especially about 'the best fishing spots.'
Elliston Pier at the right time of day, is a perfect place to catch a guaranteed fish or calamari dinner.
The place is becoming more respectful of and acknowledging it's terrible past, and saying, "Sorry."

Aboriginal Australian's Account of The Massacre at Elliston

Report of the Waterloo Bay Massacre in the New York Times

Elliston [Official Tourism Website] Eyre Peninsular

ABC News report on the Waterloo Bay Massacre

Oral History of Waterloo Bay Massacre from Aboriginal people

From "Waterloo Bay Massacre" on Wikipedia: In 1993, Aboriginal people from the west coast were still relating their oral history regarding a massacre, with the recorder of these interviews, Pat Sumerling, stating that, "[a]s the Aboriginal oral tradition is of crucial importance to their culture, with traditions handed down from generation to generation, one cannot dismiss their disturbing claims".[40] Foster, Hosking and Nettelbeck also interviewed Aboriginal people from the west coast on several occasions about the incident, with broad agreement in several aspects; the location near Elliston, that about 250 were herded together and forced over the cliffs, and additionally, that not all of the Aboriginal group were killed, the majority concealing themselves at the foot of the cliff until the settlers left.[40] In 2000, the author Iris Burgoyne wrote of the oral history about the massacre:[41]
[T]his story was passed to me by my people. Their spoken words were always the truth. As young girls at Koonibba, we sat and listened to the old people like Jack Joonary, Jilgina Jack and Wombardy. They were well over a hundred. They shared many of their experiences. They told us about how they survived the Elliston massacres in about 1839 and 1849. Jack Jacobs from Franklin Harbour, old lame Paddy and Dick Dory spoke about it as well. That day they escaped death as they tricked the European horsemen and ran into the bushes. They stood and watched in horror as their people were driven off the cliffs into the sea. [...].

Fish Tagine

A tajine or tagine is a Maghrebi dish which is named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked. It is also called a Maraq/marqa in North Africa and the Middle East.

This recipe is very similar in ingredients to my mother's baked fish recipe. Mum just layered white fish with those ingredients, topped it with onions, baked in the oven wrapped in foil. She opened the foil ten minutes before serving to brown it on top. I do not cook with aluminum foil-but see how this recipe could be simplified to a one pan cooking method.

My husband always has happier with simply made, grilled fish, but this is a pleasant change.

INGREDIENTS for Fish Tagine

60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 1 (according to taste) teaspoon ground cumin
½ to teaspoon sweet paprika
4 chopped tomatoes
50g sachet tomato paste
Pinch of saffron threads
1/2 cup fresh coriander or 1 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
225g sweet potato, peeled & cut into 1.5cm cubes
6 x 200g firm white fish fillets, such as coral trout, ling, barramundi, or blue-eye trevalla (because they allow for thick fillets) cut into 2cm cubes. This also works with marinara mix
1 Cups home made chicken stock
Coriander sprigs, to serve
¼ cup Olives (green or black, according to taste)
1 cup chopped green beans or snow peas and peas
Couscous, to serve

NOTES: You could add chilli and paprika
Substitute vegetables in season.
Mushrooms work well in this dish.

Good Morning friends.
Ah, the first coffee of the day after a catch up sleep in.

Sun is shining, the sky is blue, the crow is cawing his hello, clothes are washing in the laundry, and the walk to the pier is getting less steep and requiring less of a kick in the shins to get me started.

Okay ... I'm off to work, more writing, rewriting, editing, critiquing and reading today and freshly caught fish for lunch.

METHOD to Cook Fish Tagine

Step 1
Heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Cook onion, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add spices and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the sweet potato, chopped tomatoes, saffron and chicken stock and bring to a simmer partly covered, until sweet potato is tender, about ten minutes. Remove from heat and stir in fresh herbs.
Step 2
Place half the tomato and sweet potato mixture in the base of a tagine or heavy-based casserole, top with fish fillets and green vegetables, then add remaining tomato and sweet potato mixture. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook over medium to high heat for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add lemon and olives, and cook, covered, for a further eight minutes or until the fish is just cooked. Top with coriander and serve with red couscous.. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

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