Pearling in Western Australia

Pearling in Western Australia includes the harvesting and farming of both pearls and pearl shells (for mother of pearl) along the north-western coast of Western Australia.

The practice of collecting pearl shells existed well before British settlement. After settlement, Aboriginal people were used as slave labour in the emerging commercial industry, a practice known as blackbirding.^[1]^[2] After 1886, with the rise of 'hard hat' diving, Asian divers from coastal and island regions became most common, leading to the pearling industry being the sole exception to the White Australia Policy of 1901.^[3]^: 146

Pearling centred first around Nickol Bay and Exmouth Gulf and then around Broome, to become the largest in the world by 1910.^{[clarification needed]} The farming of cultured pearls remains an important part of the Kimberley economy, worth A$67 million in 2014 and is the second largest fisheries industry in Western Australia after rock lobster.^[4]

History

Pre-colonial history

Northern coastal dwelling Aboriginal people are known to have collected and traded pearl shell with fisherman from Sulawesi for at least 500 years. Pearl shells were also traded within Australia, with shell from the Kimberley region being found over 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) from their place of manufacture.^[5]^[6]^: 244

1862-1868: Beginnings of British pearling industry: wading for shell

The explorer Francis Thomas Gregory reported Pinctada maxima on the north-west coast in his widely read journals.^[a] In 1862 – "In the wake of Gregory's account" – John Wesley Bateman sent the vessel, Flying Foam, to harvest shells but the venture proved uneconomic and it was soon abandoned.^[6]^: 244

Local pastoralists and those stranded after their planned settlements had broken down were the first to make pearling a successful enterprise. Having learnt from the local Aboriginal peoples, they harvested shells by "beach-combing or wading in the shallows at low tide," some doing so after seeing the decorative pearl shells (Riji) made by local Aboriginal people. By November 1866, two men, Tays and Hicks, assisted by some number of Aboriginal people, had collected nine tons of shell.^[6]^{: 244–255}^[3]^: 82^[7]^: 3

The success of the early pearlers spread, resulting in several vessels from Fremantle sailing to the pearling fields, with ten boats joining in the first few months of 1868. That year, it was described that the pearlers would "prowl along the coast and gather as many as can be seen at low water", while the vessels were used to transport the collected shell in sacks and bags. At the time, two or three men in a single boat could gather £80-100 over the coarse of one tide, representing a government servants' annual salary.^[6]^{: 245–246}^[8]^: 80

1868-1883: Naked diving

In 1868, a transition from wading to diving took place, this being caused by the over-harvesting of the shallows. Pearlers adapted by having dinghies carry up to eight divers out and, when the divers went overboard, the leader then drifted with the divers until they found pearl beds. The leader would try to hold the dinghy in position, against the tide, or would make repeated runs over the bed.^[6]^: 246

Due to limits on what depths naked divers could access, the pastoralist Charles Edward Broadhurst and a few other proprietors experimented with the use of 'hard hats' by professional divers. Broadhurst's initial attempts in 1968 ended in failure, with the diver "swept off his feet and strung out in the strong current, while the naked divers used the very same tides to advantage."^[6]^{: 247–248}

As early as 1869, reports of pearlers kidnapping Aboriginal people are known, leading to the government attempting to regulate the use of Aboriginal labour. In 1871 and 1873, laws were passed that banned Aboriginal women divers as well as being "designed to protect Aboriginal labor". This regulation lead to labour being sourced from the coastal regions and islands of Asia, these people were collectively referred to as 'Malay' by the government. This regulation resulted in the number of Malays employed in the industry increasing from about 50 in 1873 to 1800 in 1875. A high death rate among Malay divers prompted further regulation, including the requirement that pearlers "pay a bond of 200 florins per Malay diver which was forfeited if he died or was not returned to his home port" as well as a minimum wage. The number of "Malay divers dropped from 989 in 1875 to 9 in 1876", and the importance of Aboriginal divers (who were paid in rations) became central to the industry again.^[3]^: 85, 88

Due to the growing number of boats and a decline in the number of Aboriginal divers due to introduced diseases (such as smallpox), in 1870, Broadhurst was given permission to allow Aboriginal convicts on Rottnest Island to 'volunteer' as divers. Five of the volunteers escaped by jumping overboard as they reached their Country in Champion Bay.^[9]^: 22

1884-1939: Hard Hat diving

With the rise of hard hat diving, London-based pearlers came to dominate the industry as most northwest pearlers could not afford the higher costs. ^[3]

The Shark Bay pearling industry

Frank Cadell was also operating at Shark Bay in this period^{[clarification needed]} and in this era 'dredging' rapidly became the most efficient means of obtaining the shell, which was noted more for the pearls rather than the shell as was the situation further north. The publicity surrounding the successes resulted in a virtual gold rush centred on Wilyah Miah (Place of the Pearl).^[10]

The Broome era

'Diving apparatus' (standard diving dress or 'hard hat') was used by divers on pearl luggers operating out of Broome.^[11] Soon the Japanese divers came to dominate the industry. By 1910, nearly 400 pearling luggers and more than 3500 people were fishing for shell in waters around Broome, making it the world's largest pearling centre.^[12] The majority of the workers were Japanese and Malaysian, but also included were Chinese, Filipino, Amborese, Koepanger (Timorese) and Makassan, as well as Aboriginal Australians and people from Europe.^{[citation needed]}

In 1910, two schooners from Koepang were reported to be at work harvesting beche-de-mer near the Walcott Inlet, within Collier Bay, after a "phantom ship" had been spotted off Cape Farquhar some days before.^[13]

By the 1930s, pearl luggers were mainly motorised and the use of mechanical air pumps allowed boats to use two divers. The industry suffered from a high death toll, with hazards from shark attack, cyclones and frequently, the bends. Four tropical cyclones hit the area between 1908 and 1935 and over 100 boats and 300 people were lost during that time, as evidenced by the numerous graves in the Japanese cemetery in Broome.^{[citation needed]}

At the time of the World War I the price of mother-of-pearl plummeted with the invention and expanded use of plastics for buttons and other articles which had previously been made of shell. Broome had been the centre of an industry that supplied up to 70% of global demand for the shell.^[14] Concerns regarding over-harvesting by the industry led to the voluntary Northern Territory Pearling Ordinance in 1931. Pearlers such as Jiro Muramats continued to operate out of Cossack. By 1939 only 73 luggers and 565 people were left in the industry and during the World War II, pearling virtually stopped. Japanese divers discreetly went home or were interned and Broome was bombed, destroying many of the remaining luggers. After the war, as few as 15 boats employing around 200 people remained.^{[citation needed]}

Post WW2: indentured labour

After World War II, workers were brought from Malaya and Indonesia on bonds to work in the pearl shelling industry and returned to their country of origin when no longer needed. Sumatran-born Samsudin bin Katib was a pearl diver who was recruited and deployed in the Z Special Unit Commandos in the Australian Army and worked behind enemy lines. Returning to work in Broome, Samsudin protested at a 10% cut in wages and poor conditions for the migrant labourers, organising a general strike. He also applied to be allowed permanent residence, but this was against the provisions of the White Australia policy. Despite the backing of some unions and individuals, he was deported in 1948.^[15]

Legacy of the 19th century

In April 2019, the skeletons of 14 Yawuru and Karajarri people which had been sold in 1894 by a wealthy Broome pastoralist and pearler to a museum in Dresden, Germany, were brought home. The remains, which had been stored in the Grassi Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, showed signs of head wounds and malnutrition, a reflection of the poor conditions endured by Aboriginal people forced to work on the pearl luggers.^[16]

Pearling luggers

The boats used for pearling from the 1870s, known as pearling luggers, were unique to Australia. There were at least two types: the Broome or North-West lugger, and the Thursday Island or Torres Strait lugger. The styles are each adapted to their respective areas and modus operandi. Around Broome, the boats had to cope with the extreme tidal range and the shallow sandy shore, on which they had to spend extended periods lying on their sides. The Torres Strait luggers spent longer periods at sea, based around schooners as mother ships.^[17]

The design of these two types changed after the engines were developed for the boats, and over time they began to look more alike. The last of the pearling luggers were built in the 1950s, and were over 50 feet (15 m) long. They were some of the last wooden sailing vessels in commercial use in Australia.^[17]

Michael Gregg, curator of maritime history at the Western Australian Museum says there were four different types, and also pointed out that the Broome pearling lugger was not actually a lugger. The name derived from the first boats used for pearling in Australia, which were often ship's boats, and used a lugsail, and so they were called luggers. But as boats began to be designed specifically for pearling, they kept the name luggers though they stopped using lugsails, and were actually gaff-rigged ketches.^[18]

At the peak of the pearling industry, in the early 1900s, there were 350 to 400 pearling luggers operating out of Broome each year. By 2005, there were just two still afloat in Broome. In 2007, one of them, Ida Lloyd, sank off Cable Beach, and in 2015, Intombi, built in 1903, was burnt. However as of 2019, there were still about 40 luggers of various types still afloat around Australia, and there is a collection of luggers at the Australian National Maritime Museum.^[18]

In Western Australia, preserved examples include those in the Western Australian Maritime Museum collection, including Trixen - built in Broome and used at all major pearling locations around Australia,^[19] Ancel also built in Broome,^[20] and The Galla used in Shark Bay and now privately owned anchored at Denham.^[21]

Cultured pearls

Due to the prospect of an adverse reaction in the natural pearling industry, the Australian government through the Pearling Act 1922 prohibited anyone in Australia from artificially producing cultivated pearls. The Act was repealed in 1949.^[2] In 1956, a joint Japanese-Australian venture was set up at Kuri Bay, 420 kilometres (260 mi) north of Broome as a cultured pearl farm, named Pearls Proprietary Ltd. The company was owned by Male and Co, Broome Pearlers Brown and Dureau Ltd, and the Otto Gerdau Company (New York). The Japanese-owned Nippo Pearl Company handled distribution and marketing. The principal was Tokuichi Kuribayashi (1896–1982) who became highly influential following the death of Kōkichi Mikimoto (1858–1954). Mikimoto, Kuribayashi and another man, Tatsuhei Mise (1880–1924) had all been involved in the invention of cultured pearls around 1900. Kuri Bay was named after Mr Kuribayashi.^{[citation needed]}

By 1981, there were five pearl farms operational: Kuri Bay, Port Smith, Cygnet Bay, and two in Broome's Roebuck Bay.^{[citation needed]}

The industry today includes 19 of Australia's 20 cultured pearl farms and generates annual exports of A$200 million and employs approximately 1000 people.^{[citation needed]}

Note list

^ Gregory was not the first to report observing pearls; in 1699, the explorer William Dampier also did so.^[7]^: 3

References

^ Collins, Ben (9 September 2018). "Reconciling the dark history of slavery and murder in Australian pearling, points to a brighter future". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Early Years". ebroome.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Nayton, Gaye (2011). The archaeology of market capitalism: a Western Australian perspective. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4419-8318-3.
^ "Pearling". Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. Government of Western Australia. 6 September 2017. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
^ "Australia's pearling industry". Australian Government Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Archived from the original on 7 October 2006. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f McCarthy, Mack (2008). "Naked Diving for Mother-of-pearl". In Early Days. 13, 2. Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society.
^ ^a ^b McCarthy, Mack (2015). "Early pearling in the north west of Western Australia". Western Australian Museum Shipwreck Galleries. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.2079.1521.
^ McCarthy, Mack (1994). "Before Broome". The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History. 16 (2): 76–89.
^ Anderson, Ross (June 2012). First port in the Northwest A maritime archaeological survey of Cossack (PDF) (Report). Western Australian Museum.
^ McCarthy, M., 2007. Pearling at Shark Bay: the early beginnings. In Green, J., (ed.) Report on the 2006 Western Australian Museum, Department of Maritime Archaeology, Cape Inscription National Heritage Listing Archaeological Survey. Report—Department of Maritime Archaeology Western Australian Museum, No. 223 Special Publication No. 10, Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology: 157-161
^ Edmonds, Carl (1996). "Pearl diving: the Australia story". South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. 26 (1 Supplement).
^ "The History of Pearling in Western Australia". Western Australian Department of Fisheries. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
^ "The phantom vessel". The West Australian. Vol. XXVI, no. 7, 584. Western Australia. 19 July 1910. p. 3. Retrieved 1 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Rare Pearls - Precious Memories". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
^ "Stories: Cameleers and hawkers". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
^ Parke, Erin (21 May 2019). "Indigenous bones returned to Australia century after black-market trade reveal cruel treatment". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Pearling Luggers". Australian National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
^ ^a ^b Collins, Ben (5 January 2019). "Lost luggers and the rough seas facing wooden boatbuilding". ABC News. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
^ "Trixen, Broome Pearl Lugger". Western Australian Museum. 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ "Ancel". Australian Register of Historic Vessels. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ "The story behind Shark Bay Pearl Lugger "The Galla"". Western Australian Fishing Industry Council Inc. 29 July 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2024.