Pearling in Western Australia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Western Australian pearling industry existed well before European settlement. Coastal dwelling aborigines had collected and traded pearl shell as well as trepang and tortoise with fishermen from Sulawesi for possibly hundreds of years^[1]. After the arrival of Europeans, an explorer witnessed an aboriginal wearing an oyster shell which had travelled at least 500 miles from its point of origin. ^[2]

The European pearling industry began in the 1850s at Shark Bay where natural pearls were found in the Pinctada albina oyster. In 1866, two speculators, Hicks and Tays were shown pearl shells near Broome by local aborigines. A shipment of 9 tons of pearl shell was sold for £2000 the following year^[3]. When the larger Pinctada maxima oyster which produced high quality mother-of-pearl shell was discovered in areas north of Nickol Bay near present day Karratha, the industry spread rapidly during the 1880s along the north west coast. By 1910, nearly 400 pearling luggers and more than 3500 people were fishing for shell in waters around Broome, making it the worlds largest pearling centre^[4]. The majority of the workers were Japanese and Malaysian, but also included were Chinese, Filipino, Amborese, Koepanger (Timorese) and Makassan, as well as Indigenous Australians and people from Europe.^[3]

Early luggers were sail-powered and only catered for one diver and his apparatus, but by the 1930s, most vessels were motorised and mechanical air pumps allowed two divers per boat. The death toll in the early pearl industry was horrific, from the 'bends', cyclones and sharks. Between 1908 and 1935 four tropical cyclones hit the area resulting in over 300 deaths and more than 100 boats being lost. The Japanese cemetery in Broome contains the graves of many of these casualties.

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 ^[5]. 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.

[edit] Cultured pearls

Due to the prospect of an adverse reaction in the natural pearling industry, the Australian government through the "1922 Pearling Act" prohibited anyone in Australia from artificially producing cultivated pearls. The Act was repealed in 1949^[6]. In 1956, a joint Japanese-Australian venture was setup at Kuri Bay, 420 km 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 Nippon Pearl Company handled distribution and marketing. The principal was Tokiuchi Kuribayashi who became highly influential following the death of Kokichi 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.

By 1981, there were five pearl farms operational: Kuri Bay, Port Smith, Cygnet Bay, and two in Broome's Roebuck Bay.

The industry today includes 19 of Australia's 20 cultured pearl farms and generates annual exports of AUD$200M and employs approximately 1000 people.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Broome Pearls. 175th Anniversary of Western Australia. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
• Edwards, Hugh. Port of Pearls.
• Bain, Mary Albertus. Full Fathom Five.
• Chapple, Thomas Dampier. Broome The Exciting Years (1912-1930).
• Pearl Farms. Kimberley Cruising. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.