.

Sydney rock oysters

Oysters have been food for elites, as well as for the coastal communities who collected them, for thousands of years. They can be found on any seashore or estuarine area with the right climatic conditions. Sydney's Eora, Dharug, Tharawal and Guringai people were certainly eating them in large numbers for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. Shell deposits in Sydney middens have been carbon-dated to around 6000 BC.

Sydney Rocks are bivalve molluscs which begin life as veliger larvae. These form just hours after fertilisation of the eggs. The eggs and sperm are released into the water to fertilise. The veliger are microscopic, free-swimming and look for a place to settle. By two or three weeks they attach themselves to a hard surface, such as spat collecting sticks, and are now called 'spat'. They do not yet have hard shells, for this is a characteristic of mature oysters.

Sydney rock oysters are not to be confused with Pacific oysters which are their larger, less succulent, far more rubbery cousins. The Sydney oyster is smaller, softer and has a more distinctive taste. It takes about three years to reach maturity, while the Pacific takes 12 to 18 months.