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10/01/2005: "Giant Groper ...............Heron Island Resort 1961."
There was a time when Great Barrier Reef tourist resorts encouraged fishing - by handline and later by speargun. What else was there to do on a coral island? Get drunk?
Knowledge and interest in marine life was poor, underwater photography restricted to maybe a dozen in Australia who had the cameras. Spearfishing ruled.
Wal G. took this 500 pound giant Queensland groper near Heron Island. Spearfishing was encouraged but later replaced by a scuba diving convention.
No knowledge of how old fish were, how fast they were replaced was known - and still isn't. Everyone in those early times simply hoped for 'the best future to happen'. It didn't.
Giant groper were eventually given total protection status in Australian waters.
The large wooden 'shoulder gun' was the preferred choice of keen Sydney-area spearmen of the era.
