A feature of the estuary of the Cooks River, the Mudflats were located along the original riverbed and Shea’s Creek. The characteristic muddiness of these areas was due to the interaction of suspended colloidal clay brought down the stream and the tidal salty water.

The tidal electrolytes precipitate the clay resulting in muddy beds which were foraged by Aboriginal people because of the life forms which flourished there. eg. mudwhelks, worms, mangrove snails etc. Aerial vegetation on the other hand was strictly limited to mangroves which possessed special devices for surviving the anaerobic muds. ie. the mangrove adaptation of roots in the form of pneumatophore or breathing roots which developed above the mud (and were exposed to tidal water which contained dissolved oxygen).