The Ngarrindjeri people had long used pipi, which they called kuti, as an important source of protein in their diet. Cooked on hot coals or in mud ovens, they were eaten on the beach. Numerous ancient shell middens still in evidence around the Coorong and Goolwa beaches, as well as areas now underwater, attest to this practice. After British colonisation of South Australia and the establishment of the Raukkan (previously Point McLeay) mission in 1859, the Ngarrindjeri were taken off their land and became unable to access their traditional fishing and hunting grounds. Famous Ngarrindjeri author and inventor David Unaipon (who is featured on the Australian $50 note) repeatedly asked a 1913 Royal Commission into the welfare of SA Aboriginal people for a fishing licence, but this was not granted.