What is the thukeri aboriginal story?

Answer 1

The question relates to a Dreamtime story, known as Thukeri, or also as the story of the Bony Bream. It describes a pair of Ngarrindjeri fisherman who have a great catch of wonderful thukeri, also known as bream. They catch so many fat thukeri their canoe cannot hold any more, and they return to shore where others of the tribe are preparing accompaniments to eat with their catch. On the beach a stranger approaches and they quickly hide their catch under covers for fear of being asked to share it. The strangers asks if they could spare a fish or two since he hasn't eaten for a long time. The fishermen swear they have no fish to spare and the stranger walks away. As he leaves, he tells the fishermen he knows they've lied and because they are so greedy they'll never again be able to eat thukeri. And so it was: when they opened the fish they found a mass of sharp little bones making the thukeri impossible to eat. The stranger had been the Dreamtime spirit, Ngurunderi, and the Ngarrindjeri were forever after doomed to catch only bony bream. In their place, I'd have used the bony fish with the vegetables already gathered and made fish soup, which, with all those bones, would've been delicious after straining off the sharp bits.