Whaling in Tasmania
The whaling in Tasmania ( Van Diemen's Land ) was at the beginning of European colonization until the mid- 19th century the center of the whaling -Industrie in the southern hemisphere. Hobart , which later became the capital of Tasmania , was close to the route on which the whales migrated from Antarctica to southern and warmer waters, and thus offered good conditions for whaling.
In the mid- 1830s , whaling in Tasmania peaked with 32 whaling stations on the coast . This made it Tasmania's most important industry at the time.
founding
Beginnings
The British colonization of Tasmania began in 1803. The first settlement Risdon Cove was built by Europeans on the Derwent River . Even then, the whaler Albion hunted three whales in Great Oyster Bay , Tasmania's first whaling. To exploit this natural resource, was on the north side at the entrance to Ralph Bay a Walölkocherei built and in September 1805 a British freighter took a charge on whale oil. The trade in products from colonies was restricted by the monopoly of the British East India Company in the Pacific , as only cargo ships smaller than 350 tons were allowed to transport whale oil directly to England until 1819. The locally responsible colonial administration also demanded transport and port fees for whale oil, which was abolished in 1824. In the period from 1823 to 1825, direct trade to England was adjusted to the usual trading conditions for all traders, insofar as they corresponded to the interests of the British government.
The waters around Hobart such as the Derwent Estuary , Storm Bay and Frederick Henry Bay were the first whaling destinations. The first whaling station was built on Slopen Island and Maria Island in 1824, followed by stations at Adventure Bay and Bruny Island in 1826 . In the early 1830s whaling stations were added at Recherche Bay / Southport Lagoon near the entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Canal , as well as at Spring Bay on the east coast. Spring Bay had six active whaling stations and there are believed to have been four more. In the years from 1829 to 1839 around 3,000 southern right whales were shot. Thousands of resident Europeans and foreigners worked in the whaling stations, and 20 to 30 people were employed at each whaling station on the coast. In the heyday of the Tasmanian whaling industry, there were 34 whaling ships, all stationed in Hobart.
Changed framework conditions
The colonial government charged all whaling stations in Tasmania, which were located on crown land. The low wages and poor working conditions in whaling led to a law regulating the whaling industry being passed in 1838. This development also resulted in areas reserved for convict housing being used as whaling stations. In 1833 it was found that the whaling station established by Van Diemen's Land Company at Circular Head on the northwest coast had only hunted a single whale in two whaling seasons. Furthermore, the competition became stronger because from 1828 whaling stations were also built in Victoria and South Australia .
Whaling end
In the mid- 1830s , Tasmania peaked with 32 whaling stations. In 1837 the value of whale oil and whalebone was more than £ 135 000 and £ 100 000 annually for the three following years. The boom ended in the mid-1840s. In the 1840s, Australia experienced its first economic crisis, with the result that the prices of whale products fell and many whaling stations had to close until the number finally dropped to three or four active stations in remote areas such as Port Davey in the later 1850s . In the meantime, the wheat and sheep trade in Tasmania had developed and offered better market opportunities than the sale of whale products, especially because the whale oil from other fishing areas was much cheaper.
From 1830 to 1900 there were 103 whalers at sea, some of which were made in Tasmania. The decline of the Tasmanian whaling industry began in the 1870s and 1880s because of public discrimination against whaling, the economic downturn, prices fell, and the Hobart harbor was no longer optimal for whaling. On February 22, 1900, the Helen was the last whaler to leave Hobart harbor.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Phoebe Hosier: The history of our whales and how whaling brought species 'to brink of extinction' , April 23, 2019, on Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved July 18, 2019
- ↑ a b c History of Shore-based Whaling , on Parks Tasmania. Retrieved July 18, 2019
- ↑ a b c Kathryn Evans: Whaling , on Tasmanian History. Retrieved July 18, 2019