The Shore Whalers of Western Australia

Historical Archaeology of a Maritime Frontier

Martin Gibbs

Studies in Australasian Historical Archaeology Volume 2

Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY PRESS Published 2010 by SYDNEY UNIVERSITY PRESS University of Sydney Library sydney.edu.au/sup In association with the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology

Reproduction and Communication for other purposes Except as permitted under the Act, no part of this edition may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or communicated in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All requests for reproduction or communication should be made to Sydney University Press at the address below:

Sydney University Press, Fisher Library F03, University of Sydney NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA Email: [email protected]

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Gibbs, Martin, 1966- Title: The shore whalers of Western Australia : historical archaeology of a maritime frontier / by Martin Gibbs. ISBN: 9781920899622 (pbk.) Series: Studies in Australasian historical archaeology ; v.2. Notes: Interim CIP record (NLApp11633) Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Offshore whaling--Western Australia--History. Whaling--Western Australia--History. Navigation--History--19th century. Western Australia--Antiquities. Dewey Number: 639.2809941

Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology Editorial Board Dr Eleanor Casella, Senior Lecturer, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Dr Sarah Colley, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales. Emeritus Professor Graham Connah, Australian National University. Dr Clayton Fredericksen, Heritage Division, Dept of the Environment & Water Resources, Canberra, ACT. Dr Susan Lawrence, Senior Lecturer, Latrobe University, Melbourne, Victoria. Professor Tim Murray, Latrobe University, Melbourne, Victoria. Dr Neville Ritchie, Waikato Conservancy, Dept of Conservation, Hamilton, New Zealand. Dr Martin Gibbs, Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales.

General Editor Dr Mary Casey

Monograph Editors Dr Martin Gibbs Dr Peter Davies

Volume Editor Dr Peter Davies

Cover Illustration William Duke (1815-1853) ‘The Rounding’. Published by R.V. Hood, Hobart, 1848. Reproduced by permission of the W L Crowther Library, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office. *Note – In the absence of any historical images of Western Australian shore whaling, this contemporary Tasmanian drawing presents a scene which would have been almost identical to those seen on the southwest coast.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS ...... iii CHAPTER 4 LOCATION AND ABOUT THE SERIES ...... v ORGANISATION ...... 55 FOREWORD ...... v SITE SELECTION ...... 55 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... vi Lease Agreements ...... 60 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY ...... 61 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 Environmental background ...... 61 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...... 2 Archaeological Survey ...... 61 Maritime Industrial Frontiers ...... 2 Location - Bays and Headlands ...... 62 Whaling in the 19th Century ...... 4 Look–outs ...... 62 DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH ...... 6 Flensing areas ...... 64 Whaling station records ...... 6 Carcass Disposal ...... 64 Government records ...... 6 Processing Area and Tryworks ...... 65 Newspaper reports ...... 7 Oil Storage ...... 67 Personal records ...... 7 Boat ramps & launching areas ...... 67 Maps, plans and images ...... 7 Whalecraft storage and work areas ...... 67 Memoirs and oral histories ...... 8 Barracks and Domestic Buildings ...... 67 Previous Archaeological Research ...... 8 Other Structures ...... 68 CONCLUSION ...... 8 Water Supply ...... 68 HISTORICAL WEIGHTS & MEASURES ...... 9 Gardens ...... 69 Burials ...... 69 CHAPTER 2 HISTORY OF SHORE WHALING 10 Aboriginal Sites ...... 69 Pre–settlement (1616–1826) ...... 11 DISCUSSION ...... 69 Early Settlement (1826–1842) ...... 11 Consolidation (1843–1869) ...... 21 CHAPTER 5 EXCAVATION OF CHEYNE Decline (1870–1879) ...... 25 BEACH ...... 71 ABORIGINAL WHALERS ...... 27 SITE DESCRIPTION ...... 71 Nyungar Traditional Life ...... 27 Environment ...... 71 Contact with Whalers and Whaling ...... 27 EXCAVATION METHOD ...... 73 Aboriginal Whalers ...... 28 STRATIGRAPHY ...... 74 Whaling and Aboriginal Spiritual Life ..... 30 Structure One ...... 74 Whaling in Aboriginal Performance ...... 30 Structure Two ...... 76 Whaling as Opportunity ...... 31 Midden Area ...... 76 Summary of Stratigraphic Units ...... 77 CHAPTER 3 PROCESS AND PRODUCTION .... 32 BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES ...... 77 EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS ...... 32 Employment Structure and Payment CHAPTER 6 ARTEFACT ANALYSIS ...... 80 systems...... 32 HOUSEHOLD/STRUCTURAL ...... 80 Worker Experience and Involvement Architectural/Construction artefacts ...... 80 Patterns ...... 33 Hardware ...... 82 Ethnicity ...... 36 Furnishings/Accessories ...... 82 Development of Labour Legislation ...... 36 Distributions in the Structural Category .... 82 Development of Labour Legislation ...... 37 FOODWAYS ...... 83 Ownership and Management ...... 37 Procurement ...... 83 WHALING PARTIES & STATIONS ...... 38 Preparation ...... 84 Number and Size of Whaling Parties ...... 38 Service ...... 84 Number of Workers ...... 40 Storage ...... 87 Whaling Stations ...... 41 Distribution of ceramic and glass vessels .. 89 WHALING TECHNOLOGY ...... 42 Faunal Remains ...... 89 Equipment supply ...... 42 Distributions in the Foodways Category ... 95 Diffusion of Technology ...... 44 CLOTHING ...... 96 Local Manufacture ...... 44 Fasteners ...... 96 PRODUCTION AND EFFICIENCY ...... 45 Manufacture ...... 97 The Whaling Season ...... 45 Other ...... 97 Catch efficiency ...... 46 Distribution in the Clothing Category ...... 97 Species of catch and catch strategy ...... 47

PERSONAL ...... 98 North Fremantle ...... 127 Medicinal and Toiletries ...... 98 Bathers Bay / Fremantle ...... 127 Cosmetic ...... 99 Carnac Island ...... 129 Recreational ...... 99 Rottnest Island ...... 129 Monetary ...... 100 Safety Bay ...... 130 Decorative - jewelry, hairpins, hatpins .... 101 Bunbury Whaling Station ...... 130 Other ...... 101 Mininup ...... 131 LABOUR ...... 102 Toby Inlet...... 132 Whalecraft and Boating equipment ...... 102 Castle Rock ...... 133 ABORIGINAL ARTEFACTS ...... 102 SOUTH COAST ...... 134 ARTEFACT DISTRIBUTION ...... 102 Torbay/ Migo Island ...... 134 Barker Bay/ Whaling Cove ...... 135 CHAPTER 7 LIFE AT CHEYNE BEACH ...... 104 Two Peoples Bay ...... 137 THE ALBANY SETTLEMENT ...... 104 Cheyne Beach ...... 138 Cheyne Beach ...... 105 Cape Riche ...... 139 INTERPRETATION OF THE Doubtful Island Bay ...... 140 ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ...... 106 EAST COAST ...... 141 Domestic Life ...... 107 Middle Island ...... 141 Import Patterns and Local Manufacture .. 112 Barrier Anchorage ...... 142 Aboriginal Contact ...... 113 Thomas's Fishery ...... 143 CONCLUSIONS ...... 113 ADDITIONAL SITES...... 143 Colonial Stations ...... 143 CHAPTER 8 LIFE ON THE MARITIME Single–Use sites ...... 144 INDUSTRIAL FRONTIER ...... 115 Foreign shore stations ...... 144 THE MARITIME INDUSTRIAL Sealers Camps ...... 145 FRONTIER ...... 116 Whaling as Industrial Process ...... 118 APPENDIX B HISTORICAL DATA ...... 146 Life on the Maritime Frontier ...... 120 B.1 Whaling Stations and Owners ...... 146 CONCLUSIONS ...... 121 B.2 Whaling parties, boats, whalers...... 148 ADDENDA ...... 122 B.3 Biographical and Ownership Data ...... 149 B.4 Reported Oil and Bone Production ...... 150 APPENDIX A SITE HISTORIES AND B.5 Exports of oil and bone, ...... 151 SURVEYS ...... 123 B.6 Destinations of Oil and Bone Exports .... 152 Survey Method ...... 123 B.7 Cheyne Beach and Castle Rock, ...... 153 NORTHWEST COAST...... 123 B.8 Oil yields from individual whales ...... 153 Malus Island ...... 123 LOWER WEST COAST ...... 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 154 Marmion/Sorrento ...... 126

iv ABOUT THE SERIES

The Studies in Australasian Historical Archaeology series associated websites, to facilitate opportunities for inter–site is designed to make the results of high–quality research in comparison and critical evaluation of analytical methods historical archaeology available to archaeologists, other and interpretations. Future releases in the series will include researchers, students and the public. A particular aim of edited and revised versions of Australasian higher–degree the series is to ensure that the data from these studies are theses, major pieces of consultancy and academic research, and commissioned studies on other topics of interest. also made available, either within the volumes or in

FOREWORD

This monograph has been a long time coming, but it has whaling stations weren’t, Martin’s careful attention to the benefited significantly from the intellectual distance global historical context of the Australian whaling industry Martin has been able to put between himself and the PhD and his detailed analysis of the varied artefacts he dissertation on which the present volume is based. recovered has allowed him to fit the site firmly into the Thankfully he has also translated it from “thesis–ese”, greater scheme of things at the time. which he may not have done so thoroughly had he rushed It is this last that I find most astonishing. Here was a into print right after gaining his doctorate. The result of place that was at the utter ends of the earth when it was in his rumination and editing is a scholarly but highly use, but which saw its occupants steadfastly maintaining readable treatise on a fascinating aspect of colonial their connections with the wider world, and Britain in history. particular, when we might have expected them to adapt Martin set himself a ambitious task when he began much more to local conditions, given the effort it must this project. After working through a variety of trials and have taken to “remain respectable”. Martin is not the first tribulations of the sort familiar to many doctoral to reveal such behaviours on colonial frontiers, but his candidates, he focussed his attention on Cheyne Beach lucid exposition of this particular case adds usefully to our and what was a small but very nicely–formed shore understanding of how ordinary people manage in the whaling site nestled in the dunes about 50 km northeast of trying circumstances into which they can be thrust by the Albany in the far southwest of the continent. I visited the dynamics of world affairs. That the site of their labours site while Martin and his crew were excavating, and was and his is now largely gone is a poignant reminder of why struck not only by the quality of the site and Martin’s we do what we do as archaeologists. work on it, but also the stark beauty of the wider location. The many tiger snakes that infested the place just made it Prof. IAN LILLEY all the more, um…interesting to be there. Although Cheyne Beach seems atypical in some ways, being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit associated with a domestic residence in a way other shore The University of Queensland

v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This volume is dedicated to my wife Melissa for Ben Zuvella Carol Prince indulging me while I finally got this whale off my back, Ursula Frederick Sarah Grimes and to my parents John and Rosemary Gibbs and my Veronica Carr Natasha Mutch siblings Steve, Russ, Jenni and their partners and children Robin Gregory Karyn McCloud for ensuring my survival the first time around. Julie Cooper Cathy Morgan Sally Stewart Lyle Palmer For their intellectual and/or practical support and Sam Sweeney Theo Amesz encouragement in the revision into this current volume I Mark Waiters Lewis Adie would particularly like to thank David Roe, Rodney Nicky Martin Nikky Lewis Harrison, Brad Duncan, Kathryn Przywolnik, Shane Burke, Annie Clarke, Sarah Colley, Mary Casey, Denis and UWA students Emma, Justine, Jenny, Kerri, Graeme Gojak, Eleanor Casella, Judy Birmingham, Susan and Rachel (whose surnames I neglected to record). Lawrence and Peter Davies who also proof read the volume. Fellow postgraduate students and colleagues: (Centre I will not repeat the original acknowledgements in for Archaeology, University of Western Australia) for full, in part because of their size, but also because this sharing the experience in what was sometimes an exciting was the only part of the original dissertation which and eventually a challenging period. attracted the ire of the examiners. In retrospect I might Cathy Stokes Celmara Pocock have been a bit more formal and restrained in my fulsome Lynda Strawbridge Gaye Nayton explanations of peoples’ contributions, although it still Bruce Veitch Peter Veth seems to me that in the marathon that is a PhD there isn’t Sue O’Connor Jenny Smith necessarily a huge gap between the intellectual and Madge Schwede Kate Morse personal wellbeing of the student. That said, this time for Alison Clarke Elizabeth Bradshaw the sake of brevity I will simply list them.

Professional colleagues who provided advice or kindly Previous researchers: The late Ian Heppingstone of the sent copies of documents and sources. I have listed their Royal Western Australian Historical Society and National associations at the time of the original research: Trust of Australia (W.A.) who wrote the original history Dr Moya Smith & Alex Baynes (WA Museum) of shore whaling in Western Australia was kind enough to Dr Mike McCarthy (WA Maritime Museum) discuss his work several times. Dr Michael Pearson and Dr Lenore Layman (Murdoch University) Mr Jack MacIlroy also generously discussed their Denis Gojak (National Parks and Wildlife, NS.W.) previous archaeological research on the whaling sites of lain Stuart (Victoria Archaeological Survey) Western Australia and Mr MacIlroy also kindly provided Dr Peter Bell (Sth Aust. Dept of Environment) permission to use his site plan of the Bathers Beach Dr Michael Pearson (Aust. Heritage Commission) tryworks excavation. Dr Nigel Prickett (Auckland Institute and Museum) Mike Nash & Kathy Evans (Tas. Parks and Wildlife) Supervisors: Thanks to Prof. Sandra Bowdler (who did Justin McCarthy & Diana Coultas (Austral Archaeology) two stints separated by 6 years), Prof. Ian Lilley and Dr David Bulbeck for their advice and support before, Funding: I received a three year Australian Postgraduate during and after the process. Award and a small National Estate grant via the National Trust of Australia (WA). The National Trust of Australia (W.A.) and its C.E.O. Tom Perrigo also allowed me study Field and laboratory assistants: Special thanks to time on the project while in their employ. Donald Lantzke who was my main assistant for most of my fieldwork and Fiona, Conner and Mark Bush for undertaking the huge task of sorting the ceramics. My Site access: The Shire of Albany kindly permitted me to apologies to anyone I have forgotten: excavate at Cheyne Beach and Whaling Cove (Barker Ryan Hovingh Kevin Edwards Bay), while the Dept. of Conservation and Land Robin Stevens Wendy Bradshaw Management (WA) gave permission to survey several Angela Murphy Darren Cooper sites under their control. Lynley Wallis Jemma Pope