Davidson Whaling Station
The Davidson Whaling Station (German: Davidson whaling station ), which was on the east coast of New South Wales , was operated from 1828 to 1940 with brief interruptions. It is the longest-running whaling station on the entire coast of the Australian continent .
This whaling station was inscribed on the New South Wales List of Historic Monuments in 1999 due to its historical importance.
location
The Davidson Whaling Station is about 500 kilometers south of Sydney and 35 kilometers south of the city of Eden . It is located near the shore of Twofold Bay on the south bank of the mouth of the Towamba River . The whaling station is located in the Beda Valley Shire near the settlement of Edrum on East Boyd Bay . The former whaling station can be reached on a road from Eden, although the last 4 kilometers are unpaved.
history
Twofold Bay offered shelter to numerous ships at the beginning of the colonization of Australia when they were in danger of getting caught in the frequent storms there. From the ships , the whales coming from the Antarctic were spotted, which visited the bay every year from May to November.
John Raine was the first to take advantage of these reports when he set up and operated a whale oil cooking facility in Twofold Bay in 1828 . It was the first on a beach on the Australian continent.
Then in 1834 the brothers Alexander, Georg and Peter Imlay built a whaling station. Next to their whale oil cooking plant, they built a simple wooden building that was covered with bark. The brothers are said to have employed the local Aborigines of the Thaua (or Thawa) clan, who belong to the Yuin tribe , in whaling. Due to financial reasons, the brothers failed their whaling business in the 1840s.
The Boyd family bought the property in 1854 and settled there. In addition to this company, Benjamin Boyd ran numerous other businesses. He expanded the buildings on Twofold Bay and built the whaling station on Kiah Inlet . The flat sandy beach was ideal for this purpose, as the whales that were hunted, which were only hunted with boats and harpoons, could be dragged onto the beach with less effort. He also had the Boyd Tower built, which was planned as a lighthouse and later served the Davidsons as a whale watching tower. Benjamin Boyd founded Boyd Town and wanted to develop the place into a whaling port, which ultimately did not succeed. Benjamin Boyd's business was short-lived. When in 1833 the export of whale oil and whalebone was about half of all New South Wales exports, Boyd tried to become active in whaling in Tasmania . During this time, Oswald Brierly managed the whaling station, an artist. During this time, Brierly took several pictures of whaling in Twofold Bay. Boyd's economic concept in Tasmania did not work. He later became insolvent. When Boyd's business failed in 1848, he employed nine whalers in Twofold Bay.
Alexander Davidson, who worked for Benjamin Boyd, took over the whale station in 1857. Alexander Davidson went whaling with his son John and grandson George.
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The Davidson family is said to have used the Aboriginal knowledge to hunt whales. Because they reported of orcas that drove whales into the shallow water. The whales that died on the beach are said to have served the Aborigines as food. This fishing method is said to have also used the Davidsons. The orcas that are said to have participated in the hunt were even given names. The largest and most famous whale among them is said to have been " Old Tom ". There is a skeleton of this whale in the Eden Killer Whale Museum in Eden.
The Davidsons caught 10 to 15 whales annually in the first quarter of the 20th century. After that, they mainly occupied themselves with agriculture in order to compensate for the annual fluctuations in demand for whale products. In 1925 they only caught two whales and in 1929 the last whale was caught by them. They then left the place in 1940. It is noteworthy that it was found that the technique of whaling in Twofold Bay was never changed during the entire fishing period, but was carried out using individual, open rowing boats as it was at the beginning.
Monument protection
This whaling station is one of the few in Australia that has remained in its original state. It is also an example of the early coexistence of Aborigines and European settlers. In April 1999, the entire area with buildings was entered in the list of historical monuments of New South Wales.
Today (2019) only fragments of the wall foundations and the fireplace of the whale oil boiler, wooden pile foundations and three ship tanks in which the whale oil was stored remind of the existence of the whaling station. The structures that still exist today are the Loch Garra wooden cabin , kitchen / dining room that may have existed before the cabin was built, and the garden shed and shower stall that the Boyds built. The remains of Davidson's garden can be seen with the collapsed and overgrown fences of the orchard to the east of the hut and the grassy areas outside the orchard. There is also an old dam that the Boyds built in this area. There are also clusters of shells belonging to the Aborigines who lived there on the protected site . Otherwise, the entire area is covered with trees and bushes, which are isolated, an open forest.
The whaling station and structure is a significant historical example of early Australian architecture and gardens in the Australian bush from the early to mid-20th century from a heritage conservation point of view.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Davidson Whaling Station , on New South Wales Department of the Environment
- ↑ Eden , October 4, 2004, on the Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved July 12, 2019
- ↑ JCH Gill: The Genesis of Whaling Industry. Its Development up to 1850 (PDF), March 24, 1966, on Espace Library. Retrieved July 22, 2019. p. 131
- ↑ JCH Gill: The Genesis of Whaling Industry. Its Development up to 1850 (PDF), March 24, 1966, on Espace Library. Retrieved July 22, 2019. p. 132
- ↑ Davidson Whaling Station , on City of Eden. Retrieved July 17, 2019
Coordinates: 37 ° 6 ′ 42.1 ″ S , 149 ° 54 ′ 56.5 ″ E