Fri, 27th Jan, 2017 Cosy Corner East Campground, west of Albany, WA (Historic Whaling Station)

7am 21.7 degrees – lovely temperature but it is overcast. Such a change from yesterday’s perfect day. Decided to head into Albany to check out the historic Whaling Station. Wayne & Tracy said it was amazing and to take all day as there is so much to see. As it isn’t a nice day for scenery we headed off. Jumpers on and a few spits of rain fell as we left.

Turned right onto Frenchman Bay Road which follows a long peninsula south of Albany.

All the way to the bottom then up to a lookout for a cuppa. Looking over Goode Beach homes to grain silos on the foreshore and houses of Albany.

Scanned around over the Quaranup Peninsula then Mistaken Island.

Then over King George Sound, small Seal Island in front of Michaelmas Island then Breaksea Island. Breaksea Island was where Bob’s grandmother, Faye Howe, was living as a girl at the lighthouse with her family when the fleet headed out to WW1. She communicated using semaphore flags with the Anzac soldiers while they waited on their ships in the harbour before heading off to war at Gallipoli. She then passed on their messages to their families etc via Morse code. She was known as the Lighthouse Girl.

Finally over the historic whaling station – one sign says Whale World, other historic whaling station then on the brochure it is called Discovery Bay – bit confusing.

The lookout is named after Captain Vancouver who discovered this area in 1789.

I walked down the track to check out the other info signs.

Coastal Banksia.

Down to Whale World. The last of the whaling ships has been saved and used in the museum.

Fabulous photo of the whaling station and part of Flinders Peninsula at the entrance.

Paid our entrance fee and we were just in time to join the hourly guided tour. The guide was great and it was great to hear all the stories. Cheynes Beach Whaling Station operated here from 1952 to 1978. This is the last whaling station in Australia which closed in 1978. This is the huge engine out of the Cheynes III which was sunk as a dive wreck after the business closed. It still works but only goes slowly compared to when it was making the ship go.

Finished the tour watching a 3D movie called Giants Exist, an animated whale movie telling us all about whales etc. Very good.

Wandered around slowly checking out all the displays. Started with the skeleton display. Amazing size of the jaw bones of a Blue Whale.

Fabulous display.

This shed was originally used to store the bagged whale solubles. Whale solubles were 86% protein and it was exported as a protein supplement.

Across from the skeletons was the Mess Room and Cook’s House beside that. Now it houses a display of charts showing numbers of whales caught, photos and a video of work being carried out at the station and when it was announced that whaling would be stopped and interviews with the men affected by the closure of the station.

Into one of the huge oil storage tanks to watch a hologram story of the day in the life of a whale catching family. It was really good. There are four tanks which could hold oil from 70 to 100 whales at a time.

Into the Engineering and Blacksmiths’ workshop which houses early whaling artefacts, memorabilia, equipment and a replica ‘beetle class’ whale boat.

Captain Steve steering then firing off the harpoon.

Continued through the shed to where the power station was then the boiler room.

Newspaper clipping about the end of the whaling station.

Cheynes III which was scuttled – resting in 24 metres of water as a dive site.

At the end of the boiler was a little room where the men would warm up.

Back into the room with the Cheynes III engine which was part of the boiler’s shed.

Walked out of the shed to where they pull up the whales using these big winches.

In July 1957 a pipeline was laid underwater to facilitate the loading of whale oil in bulk. Because great white sharks were ever present here this shark cage was built to be used if there were any leaks in the line. Fortunately it was never used.

The Flensing Deck. Apparently the stench was incredible.

I bet the beach didn’t look like this back then.

Once the blubber was pulled off it and the rest of the whale was then hauled up onto the next deck where it was cut up and put into the boilers below through 6 holes in the deck. Every part of the whale was used.

Into the Fisheries Office.

The well-worn grinding stone the flensers sharpened their cutting blades on.

Down underneath to the processing area where the oil was removed in these big cookers. The remaining solids were then put through the dryer on the other side.

Up the stairs was an old towboat.

 

Into the next shed where the solids were processed.

The whale oil was filtered up in that shed which is used for site maintenance now.

Nice playground and picnic area. Someone was cooking sausages which made us hungry so we headed out for our lunch.

Back inside the entrance area – nice set of choppers. 3.6m Great White Pointer’s nasty teeth.

One room had a fabulous shell collection. Hilda Hotker started collecting these over 60 years. Beautifully laid out.

Outside we checked out the Cheynes IV.

Great view over Cheynes Beach then I zoomed in on the lighthouse on Breaksea Island. Back over the processing area and whale oil tanks.

Lots of information to read and things to see as we walked around the ship.

Narrow beds for the crew – Chief Engineer had a nicer room.

Through the engine room. Steep stairs to below.

Compact kitchen. Steve found a book to read about the purchase of each of the company’s ships.

The cook had a nice room. Photo of the ship with a few whales hanging off the sides.

I climbed down the steps to the Spring Room. There was a dark room which was the Sonar Pit.

The springs were attached to the ropes that held the whales against the ship. They stopped the ship being pulled over by the whales.

The chain locker and other bits and pieces on display. Once they had killed the whale they injected it with air to keep it afloat then put in a flag and beacon then left it to search for more whales. At the end of the day they would come back and collect the whales and head back to the Station.

Further along towards the front of the ship was the cool room.

Into the Captain’s quarters (his bed to the left of the lounge) and dining room.

Information about various captains and crew.

Next door was the radio room and chart room.

More info.

Up to the bridge area. The sonar room was locked – view to the stern from beside it

Steve is Captain today and when he sees a whale he will run down the platform to fire the harpoon into the whale.

He would communicate with the engine room etc through this pipe. Big compass.

The front of the ship rises up steeply.

Steve getting the whale in shot. Oops.

Walked down onto the very sloping deck. All the spare harpoons, ropes and chains were laid on the deck ready to tie up the whales.

Along way up to the crow’s nest.

Walked down to the stern – the big smoke stack coming up from the engine and air ventilation for the engine room.

At the rear is the emergency steering wheel. This wheel is attached directly to rudder below. Otherwise it moves using the long rods on the deck.

More info.

Into the whale oil storage tanks to watch some more films. We stood for a while in the dim light but nothing came on. Then we realised that the power was off because on the ship there is usually a voice over talking and it wasn’t going when we walked around the ship. 

Walked up to the end tank which has lots of information about this company’s ships. 

Other historical info.

Windows have been cut into the tank. Zoomed in on the lighthouse again.

The lights came on so we headed back into one of the tanks to watch a show on sharks using three big screens. Interesting how everyone got on board to protect the whales but it was much harder to convince people to save the sharks.

In the next one the screen was on the floor and we stood around the edge of the tank on a platform. It was about whaling history – very interesting. I don’t think they cleaned all the oil out of this tank as it stank and there was furry bits on the walls.

In the old store and radio workshop was a display of sepia photography.

A whale being cut up and a flenser sharpening his knife.

To finish off I climbed up into the Crow’s Nest. Sounds challenging but they have it on the ground now!! Should have got Steve to lay on the ground and shoot straight up for a more realistic photo.

Chatted with a guy who came here as a school student in 1970 when people could stand behind a fence and watch the men cutting up the whales. He said he can still remember the smell and there were sharks coming up onto the slipway to drag parts of the whales back into the water.

Back into the main area and gift shop we found another room. Full of info about all the different whales, dolphins, seals etc – there are so many.

Also a display of whale bone and tooth carvings called Scrimshaw.

We had a great day even though the day was on and off mist then sunshine. We could also have gone into the Wildflower Garden and Wildlife Park but we had had enough. Drove down to the beach for a cuppa. Certainly a different day to yesterday. As we were leaving the rain got heavier.

The toilet block had a nice front.

Wet drive back to the van. All closed up again as it is cold!!