16th - 27th July 2013
The Anchorage:
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| Cable Beach to the left and the anchorage in front - taken from Gantheaume Point |
ALANA ROSE spent twelve night moored off the Gantheaume
Point Beach out from the town of Broome. Towards the northern part of this very
long sandy beach is known as Cable Beach where a lot of the big resorts are
situated.
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| Gantheaume Point |
Gantheaume Point is located approximately 6 km from
town features some amazing rock formations; this is a scenic area
with red cliffs and turquoise water. In the sandstone at the water's edge
petrified dinosaur footprints over 130 million years old can be seen at a very
low tide but for the benefit of visitors a plaster cast of the tracks has been
embedded at the top of the cliff.
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| the cement prints are in the same colour as the rock/sand |
Throughout our stay we were to experience mainly SE - E - NE
winds which came off the land. We were lucky to be tucked in behind Gantheaume
Point with a coral reef that extends out to seaward but there was a constant
running swell from out to sea which produced some surf wave action on the
shore, this surf action made for an interesting time getting ashore or
launching your dinghy to get off the beach.
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| the sand dunes behind the beach |
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| Torba Queen |
I don't think I would like to have
been in the anchorage in anything from the NW - W - SW and I do believe that
most of the boats would disappear around the corner into the Roebuck Bay under
those conditions.
There were many boat mostly moored; we had been fortunate enough
to get a free mooring from a fella (Stephen Nasso) that we had met at Prudhoe
Island in the Kimberley. Some transient boats had chosen to anchor and seemed
to have had a good hold. Some of these boat we knew already and many other we
were to meet over our time in this anchorage.
The Beach:
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| the sun sets across the beach and the people enjoy |
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| they come home from the sea |
Up the other end at Cable Beach all the tourists flock to
enjoy a dip in the sea or lazy about in the sun on the sand. A popular
tourist attraction on Cable Beach is taking a sunset camel ride.
The beach was a good meeting place for everyone and a great
location to watch the beautiful sunsets.
The Town of Broome:
Broome is now a modern town, a popular holiday destination
that has an interesting history. Broome was once a town in which lanes lined with noodle stalls
and opium dens, and the slum dwellings of hawkers and prostitutes were more
reminiscent of Asia than Australia; and where pearl shell mattered more than
human life.
Places of
interest:
Chinatown was once the bustling hub of pearl sheds, bawdy saloons,
billiard rooms and Chinese eateries. You can now find pearl showrooms, a
variety of retail outlets and sidewalk cafes adding a 20
th Century
touch to the town.
Cultured Pearling Monument: Mr. Tokuichi
Kuribayashi, originally from Nippon Pearl Company, Tokyo, Mr. Hiroshi Iwaki and
Keith Francis Dureau from Pearl Prop. Ltd. were pioneers in the cultured pearl
industry in Broome. The three life-size statues are now on display on the
grassed area of Carnarvon Street in Chinatown.
Hard Hat Diver: This life size statue of the
Hard Hat Pearl Diver adjacent to the Cultured Pearling Monument in Chinatown
was erected in 1999 to pay tribute to the role that the Hard Hat Diver played
in establishing Broome as the centre of the world's pearling industry in the
early 1900's. These early Pearl Divers came from diverse cultural backgrounds,
and this resulted in Broome being exempted from the White Australia Policy,
making the town a pioneer of multiculturalism in Australia. Around 50 of these
divers along with many of their ancestors still reside in Broome today.
Sun Pictures: Officially opened in 1916; it is
believed to be the oldest operating open-air picture garden in the world and is
open for the public to view its history. This unique indoor/outdoor theatre has
withstood the ravages of war, cyclones and king tides. Housed in the foyer is
an excellent display of movie memorabilia. Located in Chinatown the theatre is
operating and current movies are shown every night.
Pearl Luggers : On
Dampier Terrace we admired two
of the last surviving perfectly restored Pearl Luggers, the Sam Male and the
DMcD, and a heritage listed Old Pearler’s Quarters in which we saw more than
140 years of Broome's unique maritime heritage taking an historical journey
through the life and times of the pearl divers.
Streeter’s Jetty was the
original jetty for the pearling luggers based in Broome. The jetty is still
used to support vessels for modern day pearling and the occasional lugger. It
is located on Dampier Terrace, at the end of Short Street.
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| my Staircase |
Staircase to the Moon: This natural phenomenon
is caused by a full moon rising over the exposed mudflats of Roebuck Bay at
extremely low tides, creating a beautiful optical illusion of a staircase
reaching to the moon. Occurs March to October for 3 nights every month.
We did
not get to experience this phenomenon being 6ks away anchored off Gantheaume
Point Beach, but I did get a lot of sunset shots.
(not quite the Staircase to the Moon that is seen over the mudflat in town - still, it is a pretty sight across the sea)
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| MrJ and the old Courthouse building |
Courthouse and Courthouse Markets are located on
the corner of Frederick and Hamersley streets. Built in distinctive
"Broomestyle" architecture, the courthouse was the original Cable
House, where the Broome end of the oceanic telegraph cable terminated. This is
where the popular Courthouse Markets are held on Saturday mornings from 8am -
1pm all year.
The relaxed atmosphere, shady trees and lawn areas make the
Courthouse Markets the ideal place for visitors and locals to mix and sample
the quality and range of products available from the local area. Products
include fresh produce, photography, honey, preserves, indigenous and
contemporary art, many hand-crafts, clothing, jewellery and a diverse range of
freshly cooked food. Buskers entertain the crowds with music and performance.
Deep Water Port located at the end of Port Drive is Broome's water link to the
world. Built to replace the old jetty near Town Beach, this massive structure
can accommodate large cargo and cruise ships at any tide (which can run 10
metres!) The wharf is a popular fishing spot and is open to the public except
during cargo operations.
Roebuck Hotel or
as the locals call it, the Roey, was originally built by E.W. Streeter in 1880 to
provide incentive for the pearling fleet to stay in Broome. It has always been
a focal point of social gathering. In 1904 the hotel was destroyed by fire and
rebuilt. Mrs Nightingall purchased the hotel in 1955 and made extensive
renovations, including the addition of pre-made bedrooms transported by
semi-trailer from Perth.
In 1973 the hotel changes hands again, purchased by
the Swan Brewery and continued to be popular amongst young people. The modern
day hookah divers along with the burgeoning oil and gas riggers provided many
hearty evenings in the shell grit beer garden. A notable Broome identity purchased
the hotel in the late 80’s and made a number of extensions and renovations and
in the early 2000’s purchase of the local nightclub at the end of Dampier
Terrace.
Broome Staircase
Designs has been operating in Broome for twelve year. The artist and
designer of all the beautiful peal jewellery is Julia Prynne, her inspiration
being the Staircase to the Moon. This amazing even takes place at the
foreshores of Broome at only a couple of times a year. Each piece of their
Staircase Collection is designed and made exclusively by Broome Staircase
Designs for their showroom in Brome and will not be found anywhere else in the
world. The shop is situated in the Information Centre building.
MrJ and I went along to one of their very informative Pearl
Information Talks. The pearling industry is talked about, the pearl culture and
life is discuss and was shown to us through active displays. All customers’
names were put in a container and one name was drawn out at the end of the
talk/display enabling this person to win the actual pearl that had been prised
form a fresh shell. I didn’t win but MrJ did buy me an early birthday present.
Did you know that there are several ways to grade a pearl? The Lustre of a pearl is perhaps the most
important feature of all. This is the outside orient of the
pearl or the thickness that you can see. The lustre of a pearl will sometimes
show an amazing reflection within the pearl layer itself. Sometimes these
lustres appear to have a pinkie hue about them. The lustre of a pearl can
also pick up colours of an item that you are wearing or standing near, thus
characterising itself to its owner. The Freshwater Pearls were not from Broome,
they are imported from other countries. They are cultured in a similar
process to the South Sea Pearls only in mussel shells not oysters. South
Sea Pearls are the most sort after pearls in the world, especially the South
Sea Pearls that are from Australia. These pearls are cultured from a process of
nucleating the pearl oyster shell with a bead made from shell.
History:
Where it all started - The first white person appearing in
Broome history is
Abel Tasman, the
famed Dutch navigator who discovered the island state in the South of
Australia. He sailed past and charted much of the Kimberley coast in 1644. The
English buccaneer
William Dampier was the first European to
actually visit Broome's shores in 1688, after sailing north from Shark Bay in
the H.M.S. Roebuck, and
landing somewhere near the Buccaneer Archipelago. As the story goes he also
landed at what is today called Buccaneer Rock in Roebuck Bay and buried a
pirate treasure chest. You can see his ghost there at night, looking for his
lost treasure with a lantern... Or maybe you won't. Dampier actually never landed at Roebuck
Bay...
Still, the Dampier Archipelago, Dampier Peninsula, Roebuck
Bay and of course the famous Roebuck Hotel on Dampier
Terrace are all named after this first visit.
An unsuccessful attempt to develop the area to graze sheep
started in the 1860s and was soon abandoned. Cattle arrived around 1885, when
the McDonalds and the Duracks established the first cattle stations across the
Kimberley.
1861 was the defining year in Broome's
history. A new species, the pearl oyster Pinctada maxima was
discovered in Roebuck Bay and turned out to be the largest pearl shell
in the world.
Pearling:
The pearling industry was a major economic force for over
one hundred years in northern Australia and for business interests in the
southern capitals from the 1850s onwards. However, alongside the development of
the industry were stories of forced and indentured labour, danger and death.
Pearl shell and Mother of Pearl were the main focus of the industry as the
shell was used to make buttons, cutlery, hair combs, jewellery items as well as
art objects and inlay for furniture. The cultured pearling industry came to
fruition much later.
Australia's pearling industry began long before European
settlement.
Northern Australian coastal dwelling Aborigines harvested the
abundant pearl shell from the shallow waters and had a well established trading
network for pearl shell. Within Australia, pearl shells travelled further
perhaps than any other item. In Western Australia an explorer saw an aboriginal
wearing a pearly oyster-shell which had travelled at least 500 miles from its
point of origin. Aborigines also traded with the Macassan fishermen from the
Indonesia island of Sulawesi
3
who harvested beche-de-mer, trepang (sea-slugs), tortoise and pearl shell.
Folklore, songs, cave paintings and the diaries of Matthew Flinders tell us of
links between Australia and Indonesia dating back 500 years with traditional
visits from Indonesian fishermen
4
continuing until the 1970s.
A dark history of pearl diving - From 1862-68, local
Aborigines worked
dry shelling 1without wages, collecting
oysters in the shallow waters of Shark Bay. Within three years, the supply was
so low that larger boats were sent out two kilometres off shore to collect
oysters in deep water. Six to eight Aboriginal men and women in a boat would
naked dive for shell. This meant they
had to dive down deep with no oxygen, no snorkel and no mask. Employment
conditions were regarded as dangerous as well as unspeakably squalid and dirty
which contributed to a high degree of accident and death.
The invention of diving suits revolutionised the pearling industry
in Australia. Not only could divers go deeper than ever before, they could also
stay underwater longer and collect more shell and pearls. These divers wore
vulcanised canvas suits and massive bronze helmets and were lowered over the
boat's side to spend hours underwater. On
the bottom they struggled about in lead-weighted boots, often almost horizontal
as they peered through inch-thick faceplates into murky waters, frantically
scooping oysters into bags because divers were paid by the amount of shell they
collected.
As time went by many different races became involved with the
pearling industry. The races included Chinese, Japanese, Sri Lankans, West
Australians (mainly Aborigines), Torres Strait Islanders, Manilamen and
Filipinos from the Philippines, Malays from Malaysia, Rotumah men from Roti,
Koepangers from Timor, and Amboinese from the Moluccas.
During the olden days of pearling, the various races were
grouped into their own social classes each with varying importance. The highest
and most respected class were the white pearling masters who built and
pioneered the industry, because they had the money. The pearling masters rarely
mixed with the other coloured races and held themselves apart. They were
principally occupied with the construction, organisation, and management of the
lugger fleets and prospected for new pearling grounds. The pearling masters
also associated themselves within the pearl and shell market and were
responsible for winning overseas markets.
The pearling masters employed various races for work within
their home: Each pearling master had a Chinese or Japanese cook, an aboriginal
for garden work, Koepanger boys supervised the children at play, did the
housework and polished the silver, an Aboriginal woman did the daily washing, a
Chinese person did the ironing and the waiter was either a Japanese or
Koepanger. The Malays and Manilamen were usually employed as pearl shell
divers, however the Japanese, whom seemed naturally immune against ill-fortunes
associated with high pressure such as otitis (inflammation of the ears),
otorrhagia (bleeding of the ears), and epistaxis (bleeding of the nose), were
recruited and indeed overtook them because they were more ambitious, quicker to
learn, and ready to take risks. Many of the Japanese divers were used as
indentured labour. This means that they were working for no money in order to
repay a debt, usually their transportation to Australia. Divers were paid by
the amount of shell they collected and because of the dangers involved, very
few of these divers ever managed to work off their debt.
Most of the other races were involved on the deck either as
being deck hands, pump crews or cooks.
In the Torres Strait, pearlers not only sought pearls11 but also other island
resources to maintain the industry and this extended to the ransacking of the
islands for food, timber, women and water. Along with the onslaught of
diseases, this contributed to significant population decline amongst the Torres
Strait Islanders within 30 years to as low as 50% of pre-pearling populations
by 1900.
Pearl divers regularly faced the threat of shark attack as
well as the dreaded crippling effects of the bends17 with every dive. Some sources say that the
mortality (death) rate for divers was 50%. In addition, whole fleets were
shipwrecked18 in
single cyclones. Between 1908 and 1935, four cyclones hit the pearling fleet19 at sea. Around 100 boats were
destroyed and 300 men were killed.
In the early 20th century, Australia's White Australia
Policy
20 restricted
immigration to mostly white Europeans. This was a problem for Broome and the
pearling industry that relied on cheap, expendable labour from Asia. As a
solution to this, the government recruited 12 divers from the British Navy as
pearl divers. Unfortunately, nearly all of these divers died, so Broome was
made an exception to the White Australia Policy.
During World War I and World War II, the industry virtually
ceased as most of the workers enlisted. The industry relied heavily on its
Japanese pearl divers and as a result of Japan entering WWII; these divers were
imprisoned in prisoner of war camps. The recovery after World War II was slow
as harvesting methods used in the previous decades meant that the supply of
shell had almost run out. The development of plastic buttons and buckles in the
1950s devastated the pearling industry by the 1960s. However, new cultivation
methods allowed the artificial creation of a pearl. This was usually done by
inserting a small plastic ball into the oyster. The beginning of the cultured pearl
in Australia!
The Wars:
The town was booming. Before World War I, Broome supplied
over 80% of the world's mother of pearl. While the pearling masters and their
industry prospered the occupation proved fatal for many of the pearl divers.
The "bends", drowning, sharks and cyclones ended many dreams of a
comfortable life. The Japanese divers had the reputation to be the best, and
the hundreds of headstones in Broome's Japanese cemetery speak clear evidence
of the risks that came with their work.
Enter
WWI. The upheaval and the following
depression devastated Broome's economy. There was now also strong competition
from the Japanese. By 1939 the pearling industry survived on government
subsidies.
Next came WWII during which the Japanese
divers and crew were interned. Most of Broome's pearl luggers were sent south,
loaded with women and children. The remaining boats were burnt on the beaches
to prevent them from falling in enemy hands.
Broome and its port were undefended when they suffered the
second worst air raid in Australia's history (Darwin of course suffered the
worst) on the 3rd of March 1942. The Japanese shot down a plane carrying
wounded which had just taken off heading for Perth. They went on to destroy 15
of the Dornier flying boats anchored in the shallow bay. Most of the flying
boats were filled with refugees, mostly women and children, many of whom died
either immediately or swimming through the burning oil... And finally the
Japanese bombers turned to the airfield, where most of the planes were destroyed.
When they finally left Broome its buildings, vehicles, and even the ocean
around the bombed boats were burning. 24 aircraft had been destroyed and 70
people killed. Three of the flying boats that were destroyed by the Japanese
bombings can still be seen in the bay at very low tide today. The only good for
Broome that came from the war was the fact that the Japanese competition wasn't
operating either. After the war the pearling industry recovered to some degree,
but the heydays were definitely over.
Then disaster struck again. As if all that hadn't been
enough, in the 1950s a crucial
invention hit the market. Yep, the plastic button! Pearl shell
became worthless over night...
The plastic button sealed the fate of the Mother of Pearl industry, but not the fate
of Broome. Experiments with cultured pearls had been under way for many years,
and again it was the Japanese who perfected the process. The results were
phenomenal.
Broome pearls mature in 2 rather than 4 years like Japanese pearls,
and they are also twice as big. 20 years later the town produced up to 70% of
the world's large cultured pearls. It continues to be one of the world's major suppliers for
quality pearls today. Today pearls are no longer the only pillar of
Broome's economy. The 1980s saw a new industry emerge: tourism discovered Broome and is
growing fast. Some say too fast. From 2,000 residents in 1980 Broome grew to
11,000 in 1999, by the far the fastest population increase in the history of
Broome. Today the town has a population
of nearly 14,000. The history of Broome is visible everywhere. And I
don't mean the statues and monuments sprinkled across the town. I mean the
Broome people. The faces you see in the streets are still a vivid reminder of
the wild pearling days of Broome's history.
The People You Meet:
Brendan – one of the most energetic, enthusiastic and
friendly people I think we have ever met, a man of nature, the sea, surf and
sun and Jody – a friendly, kind and loving soul with a touch of a hidden spark,
a great lover of art and Brendan – both opened their hearts and lives to us
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| Sam and Brendan again |
Sam the mechanic – a man of great mechanical knowledge and
skill as well as size, the man who helped fix our anchor winch motor with the
help of Brendan – they got it fixed in lightning fast time, one day.
There are two organizations/clubs that I belong to (Flickr
and SICYC) that I like to catch up with other members along the way where
possible. In Broome we were able to have a Flickr meet up with Sharon, a lovely
lady with an adventurous spirit and a fellow camera snapper.
Sandy (Phase II) who we already knew from the Darwin and the
Kimberley trip but now got to see his other adventurous side while mixing with
the backpackers on the beach. ;o)))
The crew of the sports fishing boat that came alongside to
Brendan's boat Alabama Bay – local boys full of character and comics
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I was doing my usual midnight to dawn night watch when we rounded the
cape. It felt good – I was on the helm, keeping out wide to avoid the rocky
reef islands in the darkness. It was dark, very cold and wet from the sea spray
with sails reefed, a fresh W breeze blowing and a big rolling 3mt swell to push
AR around the corner. At 0215h heading down the western coast off Cape Leeuwin
- 34’27.291S – 114’59.576E and into the Southern Ocean – there was only another
100n/m to Albany.
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