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DARLING RIVER BACK BLOCK SEQUENCE
3. Displacing The Carp
carp escaped into the murray darling
system/ migrating upstream for 1200 kms/
over massive barriers such as dams/
assisted and hindered in turn by floods/
to enter queensland/ here, left by
receding floodwaters, in ponds and
lagoons/ they developed into local
populations/ european survivors/ living
under conditions of high turbidity and
low oxygen/ hanging on through
prejudice/ feeding on deadly baits and
larval insects/ suspended in the water
(the carp is the most powerful fish in
the river/ he will fight to the death/
i have seen a twelve pound carp smash
a fifty pound breaking strain line like
cotton/ the largest carp I caught was
about thirty five pound/ up past bourke
on the louth road/ the european carp
can stay up to half and hour out of the
water on the bank/ and mainly kick
their way back into the river/ it depends
on the weather/ european carp will eat
their own kind/ large or cut up/ they eat
fucking anything/ even dog shit/)
along the darling waterways near
brewarrina/ light hits the scales of
european carp crashing around in the
mud/ two pairs of fleshy whiskers, or
hooks in the corners of its mouth/ like
us it lives and dies depending on the
total scheme of things/ the carp are
blamed for displacing other species/
while australians have misplaced the
darling/ if the river could have got
up and gone elsewhere it would have
by now/ but it rots with carp and the
remains of native fish/ it dies in front
of us in the flesh/ reminds us of our
past record/ of our relationship/ to
the nature of the place |
