FOR THE RECORD

A look back through the archives as Canadian Geographic turns

It’s easy to imagine a reader in, say, snowbound Saskatchewan opening the January 1946 issue of the Canadian Geographical Journal, turning to page 22 and being struck not only by the images of Australia’s sunny North Queensland Coast but also by the headline that appeared there: “Turtle-hunting in Coral Seas.” This magazine has produced its fair share of headlines that evoke the exotic, and Ewen K. Patterson’s reportage certainly does so. Patterson details how turtle hunters (who, judging from the accompanying pictures and Patterson’s references to “natives,” appear to be exclusively Aboriginal) capture both green turtles and hawksbill turtles for their flesh and shells, respectively. “Two or three hunters approach quietly, grasp the turtle by the side of the shell and lift, and over she goes with her flippers beating wildly,” Patterson writes, later explaining that only the steaks and flippers of the green turtle are used to make what he calls “the celebrated turtle soup, which is regarded as a great delicacy in most parts of the civilized world.” Today, this sort of activity might elicit the mother of all facepalms from many of us, but the truth is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (whose hunting methods Patterson also covers) are permitted to hunt these two and other species of turtle for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs — a law that isn’t dissimilar to the hunting and fishing rights of First Nations in Canada.