HMSS 0346 Edward Gooch Fishing Collection

ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collection

HMSS 0346 Edward Gooch Fishing Collection

Call Number

HMSS 0346

Collection 

 Edward Gooch Fishing Collection

Date Range

1964-ca 1989

Quantity

0.68m (1 manuscript boxl 1 oversized box)

Access Conditions

open

Copying conditions

with attribution

Related Collections

 

Edward Ussher Gooch (Ted) was born in Mount Morgan, Queensland, in 1923. By 1925 Ted’s family had moved to Mt Gravatt on the outskirts of Brisbane, where his father owned a poultry farm. Ted’s father, Percy, fostered a life-long interest in him by taking Ted and his brothers fishing from an early age. They fished along the coast near Brisbane.

Ted spent more than forty years in the Australian Army and in 1963 brought his family to Canberra when he was posted there. From then on Ted developed his love of angling in inland waterways, mostly in ACT rivers, but also those of surrounding NSW and in Lake Eucumbene. Sometimes Ted fished coastal waters when the family holidayed there.

Catching trout in freshwater rivers was not easy and sometimes Ted arrived home empty handed. However, success often came along. Ted kept full and accurate records of every fish he caught over a period of nearly twenty years. He recorded details of weight and length, when and where caught, what lures or flies were used, and even the contents of each fish’s stomach.

At home (31 Glover Street in Lyneham) Ted spent many hours sketching the things he saw while fishing and walking through the bush. He also meticulously crafted fishing flies, many based on his observations of various insects and other water life.

Ted’s collection includes: his records of fish caught from 1964 onwards; fine pencil sketches of insects, birds, knots and fishing flies; fishing-related newspaper clippings; letters, brochures and other ephemera. The collection spans the years from about 1964 through to the early 1980s.

Ted Gooch died in September 2006. 

BOX LIST

Box No.

Description

Quantity

Date Range

1

Anglers Journal (Canberra Anglers Association).
Vol. 7, no. 3 (August 1966)-v. 8, no. 6 (August 1968)

1 file

1966-1968

 

 

 

 

1

Angling laws.
Newspaper clipping, government brochures, copy of Ted Gooch’s first inland angling license

1 file

1964-1969

 

 

 

 

1

Aquatic insects.
Pencil sketches of insects, Canberra Times clipping on water snails

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Boating.
Newspaper cutting on South Coast boating and NRMA Boating Guide pamphlet

1 file

1965

 

 

 

 

1

Catches.
Detailed records of fish caught from March 1964 to April 1977; ‘Condition Factor’ chart

1 file

1964-1977

 

 

 

 

1

Correspondence.
Correspondence with landowners T.N. Gorman, R.B. Douglas, J. Nellthorp

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Fish (species, habits, etc.).
Handwritten notes about saltwater fishing, hand drawn map showing distribution of introduced fish, pamphlet on atlantic salmon and trout

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Fish and Wildlife Gazette.
No. 20 (September 1966)-no. 25 (September 1968)

1 file

1966-1968

 

 

 

 

1

Fishing pamphlets.
3 pamphlets on fishing in the Snowy Mountains, Bateman’s Bay, and A.C.T. & South Coast

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Flies, lures etc., and fly dressing.
Hand written notes and fine sketches (mostly coloured pencil and ink)

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

National parks and nature reserves.
Brochures and cuttings about national parks & nature reserves (mostly NSW and ACT)

2 files (A-L, M-Z)

 

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, 1964-65.
From Canberra Times? and Pix

1 file

1964-1965

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, 1965-66.
Unidentified newspapers, probably Canberra Times

1 file

1965-1966

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, 1966-67.
Unidentified newspapers, probably Canberra Times

1 file

1966-1967

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, 1967-68.
Unidentified newspapers, probably Canberra Times; also Sunday Telegraph and Courier

1 file

1967-1968

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, 1968-69.
Courier, Telegraph, Canberra Times

1 file

1968-1969

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, General.
Mostly undated

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Newspaper cuttings, 1970’s and 1980’s.
Unidentified newspapers, probably Canberra Times

1 file

1970-1989

 

 

 

 

1

Freshwater fishing (General).
Notes on pH factors, and chart of unknown purpose

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Saltwater fishing (General).
Pencil sketches of saltwater fish

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Tackle (rods, lines, hooks etc., knots, maintenance).
Notes, sketches, brochure for Eagle Claw fish hooks, brochure for Platypus nylon line

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Tasmanian Fishing Trip, 1981.
Copy of ‘Fish Tasmania Troutateer’, vol. 2, no. 1 (14 March 1981) written by Graham Pike

1 file

1981

 

 

 

 

1

Water birds.
Newspaper cutting, and sketches of ducks (coloured pencil)

1 file

 

 

 

 

 

1

Weather.
Brochures on weather and climate, 1967 Canberra Times clipping, barometer readings, notes on clouds

1 file

 
       
 1

Maps.
Mostly ordinance survey maps.  Some with manuscript annotations concerning fishing conditions and access to properties.  Some pencil sketches of fish. Some hand-coloured to indicate waterways.

 1 file   
       
 1

Reference Books.

  • Freshwater fish of the Murray-Darling River system
  • Fish in farm dams
  • Trout stream insects and their imitations
  • National Aquarium Flyfishing Centre information 
    
2 
 Reference Books.
  • Trout and freshwater fish atlas of New South Wales