Sharks and a Whale of a Time
On King George Sound just beyond the city limits of Albany is what remains of a once bustling, yet small community.It was the base of operations for a Cheynes Beach Whale Company’s whaling station.A combination of changing environmental sentiments, decreasing whale populations, and economic stresses resulted in the station closing on 21 November 1978 – the end of nearly a century of whaling in Australia.
For a time the station fell in to disrepair.Today the relicts have been restored, painted and polished; buildings cleaned and a whalechaser, the Cheynes IV, has been brought to rest at the whaling station.I’d past by the location several times, drawn by the ship on the shore and silver tanks lining the hillside but never entered.Today I decided to visit Whale World.
Shelley took my money, gave me a ticket and 3D glasses, then described station.The turnstile accepted my bar-coded ticket and I walked in.The next tour began in 10 minutes.I quickly oriented myself to the grounds, visited the Colin Green Heritage Gallery and returned to the bow of Cheynes IV for the start of the tour.
A tour group was forming and I joined in.Shelley was the guide.She had grown up in Albany.School field trips were to the then operational whaling station.As a student she had stood in the gallery just above the “Cutting up Deck” while the hands below processed the whale.“The smell was ghastly” as this was demonstrated by a few photographs from the era with children lined up on the observation deck, hands over their noses, was the whales were drug from the ocean ready to be processed.After a whale station field trip, and only watching the process for a few minutes, the smell would stick to her sinuses, airway membranes and hairs.
As Shelley described it, “It was awful.For days after a field trip I would smell the whale station.I couldn’t even wash it off.I stank.”A nine year-old girl does not appreciate smelling disgusting for days on end.
As many as three ships went out early in the morning.By daybreak they were at the edge of the continental shelf.A spotter plane would leave the station as light rose over the eastern horizon reaching the continental shelf about the same time as the ships.The aircraft would then guide the ships to the any whales found.The ships would sail to the whale for the dispatch.A successfully harpooned whale was drug shipside and pumped full of air.A float with a radio tag would be attached then the whale would be left to drift during the day.
In late afternoon the spotter plane would again take to the air this time honing in on the drifting whales and again guide a ship to the whales.Only one ship was usually used to drag the whales back in to the whaling station.The whales were left just offshore from the station attached to a buoy and rock.A smaller boat would later be used to drag the whales to the station.Dead whales attracted sharks – huge white sharks making the bay unsafe for swimmers.A person was employed to kill sharks near the whale carcasses.
As evening approached announcements went out on the local radio informing the community of the days catch.In this way the flensers would know if they were needed to work in the morning.
The first stop for the dead whale was on the flensing deck.A few men would slice through the blubber then it would be peeled free from the carcass.Once the blubber was off the remainder of the whale would be winched up to the ‘cutting-up deck’ where the whales were broken into pieces then lowered into the giant pressure cookers for final processing.
In one corner of the cutting-up deck there was a head saw.It was used to cut the head into pieces.
As whale populations declined sperm whales became the whale of choice at the station.Each whale produced about 7 tons of oil – 5 tons coming from the head alone.Other then the teeth, all of the whale was dumped into a giant pressure cooker.Beneath the cutting-up deck there were 6 cookers, one for each whale.
The resulted was settled out in the pot with about 33 percent being oil.The rest was a variety of solids.One of the products was a high protein food supplement for livestock.It was such a concentrated protein it could cause illness in the livestock of they consumed too much.
The sperm whale oil was valued as it did not spoil and maintained its fluid state at nearly all temperatures.It was used in a variety of products from cosmetics to transmission fluid.
Having grown up in Albany my tour guide knew families from the station.One of her best friends lived at the station.People from the station were identifiable from the rest of the community.Processing whales created an insidious odor which permeated everything and everybody it came in contact with.Even after a weekend visiting Shelley’s clothes would reek because of the odor in the air.Her friend’s hair was a permanent oily mat as if never washed.When riding the school bus the station kids were ostracized to their own section of the bus so the stink and oils didn’t get on everybody.In classrooms station kids were forced to sit separated from the other children.It sounds like it was a hard life for the station kids.
Today the station is clean.There is no fowl odor.The wooden decks are weathered.Pieces of original equipment are restored and demonstrated during tours.I found my visit to the whale station to be very informative and enjoyable.
Today the sharks are gone.People are once again able to enjoy the beaches of King George Sound.
Whales frequent the coastline.
Calves are born in the sound.
