Tangalooma Whaling Station
The Tangalooma Whaling Station (German: Tangalooma whaling station ) was about 40 kilometers northeast of Brisbane off the southeast coast of Queensland . The on the west coast of Moreton Iceland in the Moreton Bay located whaling station was the only such station that has ever operated in the state of Queensland. It was also the largest whaling station in the southern hemisphere. It existed from 1952 to 1962.
In the Tangalooma whaling station a total of 6,227 whales were shot and exploited in the period specified above. Within this short period of time, the annually migratory humpback whales along the east coast of Australia had decreased from an estimated 10,000 by 1962 to fewer than 500 before the whaling station opened. Due to the depletion of natural resources, the whaling station had deprived itself of its financial basis and had to be closed on August 5, 1962 for financial reasons. In 1963, Australia banned humpback whales from whaling in its waters.
In 1963, entrepreneurs from Brisbane decided to purchase the property and real estate and built a resort on it. Today (2019) only the presence of the Flensdeck, the cutting-up area for whales, reminds of the whaling station, which is part of the Tangalooma Island Resort .
founding
On December 15, 1950, Whale Products Pty Ltd. was founded in Sydney . founded with the intention of whaling on the east coast of Australia . From the company's point of view, Moreton Island had good conditions for whaling, because the west coast was uninhabited, was close to the routes of the whales, the land on the island could be acquired cheaply and the city of Brisbane was close by. Therefore, a labor potential was also available. Whale Products acquired 12 acres north of Tangalooma Point on Moreton Island .
Whale Products commissioned the Norwegian captain Alf Melsom to build the whaling station. Construction began in 1951 and three whaling ships were bought in Norway, which set sail for Australia. When they arrived they were instructed and trained in whaling by experienced Norwegian seafarers with the participation of Australians. Whale Products has received a 5-year license to hunt a maximum of 500 whales from May 1st to October 31st annually from the Australian government agencies responsible . In 1953 the volume was increased to 700 whales a year. Whales under 10.6 meters and mother animals with calves were not allowed to be shot.
Whale hunting
Every day the whalers ran out. They had cannons on board that fired harpoons weighing 73 kilograms . There was 1 kilogram of gunpowder on the harpoon head , which was detonated 4 seconds after it penetrated the whale's body, shattering the back bones of the whales. The hunted whale had to be pulled sideways to the whaler and inflated with air so that it would not sink. He was then dragged to the whaling station.
Flensdeck
During the whaling season, the whaling station worked 24 hours a day in two 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week. 120 people were employed. Often the ships that brought the Brisbane factory workers would bring tourists with them. One of the tourists reported: “The flensingdeck was covered with pieces of whale in more or less advanced stages of treatment - bar bones, pieces of flesh or intestines littered around or heaped together. The whole deck looked like a giant of Butcher's table - fifty yards long ”. ( German : "The Flensdeck was covered with pieces of whale in more or less advanced stages - bones, pieces of meat or intestines that were scattered or piled up. The whole deck looked like a huge butcher's table - fifty meters long".)
Whale products
The main product was whale oil , which was extracted from the whale's bacon. Bacon and bones were cooked for three to four hours in large pressure kettles. After this process, foreign substances such as glycerine, cosmetic and pharmaceutical items as well as margarine and other fat products were separated out in separators and sold overseas. Whalebone was used in the clothing industry such as in bodices or as corset bars. Whale meat was boiled or dried and used as fodder in Australia at the time.
End of the whaling station
In the first years of the whaling station there were no problems meeting the quota. Since the Byron Bay Whaling Station could not start its quota whaling in 1953, the Australian government ordered that the quota of 100 whales be passed on to the Moreton Island Whaling Station . However, when only 68 whales had been shot on August 5, 1962 and 253 compared to the same period last year, Whale Products was financially at an end. Before that, prices for whale products had already fallen from 1959 and the whaling station was abandoned.
After the old whaling station was taken over by a resort, they now offer whale watching . The whale population stabilized after the whaling and in 2017 1200 humpback whales were sighted in the former fishing area off Moreton Island. In addition, a Moreton Bay Sea Park has been designated, which protects around 3400 m² of lake in Moreton Bay .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Tangalooma Flensing Deck - Queensland's Old Whaling Station , on Tangalooma Island Resort. Retrieved July 16, 2019
- ↑ Mark B. Orams, Paul H. Forestell: From whale harvesting to whaleS from 2017. pp. 109/110. accessed on July 16, 2019
- ^ A b c Mark B. Orams, Paul H. Forestell: From whale harvesting to whale watching. Tangalooma 30 years on (PDF), from 2017. p. 109. Retrieved July 16, 2019
- ↑ Keith Boulton; The Whaling Industry of Byron Bay , 2017, on Maritime Museum Queensland, pp. 12-14. Retrieved July 16, 2019
- ↑ Mark B. Orams, Paul H. Forestell: From whale harvesting to whaleS , 2017. p. 110. Retrieved July 16, 2019
Coordinates: 27 ° 10 ′ 36 ″ S , 153 ° 22 ′ 33 ″ E