The+Pearling+Industry+-+Leah

Early attempts of explorers venturing to the Kimberley resulted in many failures. This was due to the harshness of the land with men, and stock dying from the heat in the 1864 venture to Camden Harbour (Clement, 1991). In 1865 new stations at Roebuck Bay struggled financially due to the high cost of setting up, and isolation (Clement, 1991) and Aboriginal resistance was present in many places in the Kimberley such as from the Worora at Hanover Bay (Edwards, 1991). In 1861, the crew of the ‘Dolphin’ at Nickol Bay discovered the Pinctada Maxima pearl shell which was huge in size compared to any other shells on the market. The ‘Mother of Pearl’ was a very valuable commodity on the European and American markets so many of those early settlers found there was more money to be made in pearling than in the sheep industry. This led to the history of Broome and modern pearling beginning in 1881 (History of Broome’s Pearling Industry, n.d.).  Stories of pearling history from Indigenous and non Indigenous sources help to illustrate what life was like in the Kimberley in the early days of colonisation.  Jack Karadada’s account of his grandfather’s attack on the whites at Bigge Island is an example of Indigenous oral history of Aboriginal resistance. It is from Crawford’s book (2001) ‘We Won the Victory, Aborigines and Outsiders on the North West Coast of the Kimberley.’ Jack’s grandfather was shot when trying to ward off Gardiya’s (white people) from Broome who he called devils. In another incident he speared some gardiya who came to Bigge Island to get water. This resulted in the white people avoiding Bigge Island and treating the Aboriginals on there with respect. Strong Aboriginal resistance was a common occurrence throughout the Kimberley during colonisation which often halted or abandoned attempts from settlers (Clement, 1991).  A non-Indigenous black and white film titled The Pearlers was made in 1949 by The National Film Board. Filmed aboard the luggers off Broome the narrator states that the crews consist of Malay, Koepanger, Chinese, and //the occasional European.// Working on the luggers is clearly the tougher side of the job, with crew out at sea for 9 months of the year. Juxtaposed to the Indigenous and Asian crew we are shown the white men working in offices as the lugger owners weighing pearls. White power and dominance is evident as although the Indigenous and Asian crew are doing all the work, they are not the bosses getting the most money. There is also a lack of acknowledgement of the harsh treatment and human rights violations that occurred in the industry and this selective history works to legitimate colonisation in Broome (The Council for Reconciliation, 1994) as the film states pearling is ‘a valuable dollar earner for Australia’ which seems to be of most importance.  The book ‘The Last Pearling Lugger’ by non Indigenous author Mark Dodd gives a frank account of early pearling history and the treatment of Indigenous people. Dodd (2011, p. 23) states ‘Aboriginal people provided a ready source of cheap expendable labour, press-ganged, coerced or otherwise lured into collecting wild pearl shell lying within the tide line.’ This version of history reveals the Imperialistic attitudes and human rights violations that occurred (The Council for Reconciliation, 1994). Dodd discusses the issue of inter-racial marriage between an Aboriginal Bardi women and a Chinese man which is comparative to Indigenous woman Trish Jones’ story of her parent’s struggle having an inter-racial relationship at the opening of a sculpture remembering women in Broome’s pearling history (Mills, 2010).  A non Indigenous written journal article titled ‘The Evolution of ‘Malay’ Labour Activism, 1870-1947: protest among pearling crews in Dutch East Indes-Australian waters.’ By Martinez (2009) outlines the injustices toward Indigenous and Asian people during the early pearling years. Martinez states that when the industry was first established mainly Aboriginal Bardi men and women were used as labour and were capture by ‘blackbirders’ who were traded like slaves. There are also accounts of Malay crews being held by pearling masters against their wills.  The final Indigenous source is Geoffrey Mangalamara’s oral history account of the wrecking of the Sunbeam on Osborne Islands also from Crawford’s book (2001). Geoffrey tells the story of how Aboriginal women would go with the white men in trade of tobacco or tucker but when they were not returned from the Sunbeam the Aboriginal men called up the Unggud (Ancestral snake) to shipwreck the boat. The Aboriginal version of the story highlights the cultural differences of the time and their belief in the Supernatural for the protection of their women. This story is another example of resistance and tension between the two cultures.  From Indigenous and non Indigenous sources it is clear that the pearling industry in the Kimberley had a pretty rough start with blackbirding, slavery, racial discrimination and white supremacy. Aboriginal resistance was present but the use of guns by settlers usually resulted in control over Indigenous groups (Clement, 1991). Although the early history was not pleasant, Broome would not be the town it is today without the pearling industry and the mixture of cultures it bought (Dodd, 2011).


 * References **

Clement, C (1991) Australia’s North West: A Study of Exploration, Land Policy and Land Acquisition, 1644-1884. PhD Thesis, Murdoch Uni. Pp.245-255

Crawford, I. (2001). Excerpt from The Pearlers. In //We Won the Victory, Aborigines and Outsiders on the North West Coast of the Kimberley//. Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, p. 148-158.

Council for Reconciliation (1994) //Silencing Times – out of history//. In Sharing History key Issue paper No. 4 (pp. 19-32). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Dodd, M. (2011). //The Last Pearling Lugger//. Sydney: Pan MacMillan

Edwards, H. (1991). //The Fatal Shot. In Kimberley, Dreaming to Diamonds//. Perth: Hugh Edwards //History of Broome’s Pearling Industry //. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/10236/

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;">Martinez, J. (2009). The Evolution of ‘Malay’ Labour Activism, 1870-1947: protest among pearling crews in Dutch East Indes-Australian waters. //Transforming Cultures eJournal, 4//(2), 86-110. Retrieved from http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/TfC

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;">Mills, V. (2010, November 29). //Women recognised for love and death in Broome pearling//. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/11/29/3079734.htm

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;">The National Film Board. (1949.) //The Pearlers// [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ShP_Aoh3I