A Walk Back in Time

Due to high winds, today was a short one on the water.  After a morning whale watch on the Cat Balou, we decided to take a trip to the other side of Twofold Bay to see a bit of history.

First up was a short hike to Boyd Tower.  Benjamin Boyd first came to the area in 1842 and began building a private town and shipping industry.  Soon he was shipping wool and whale products.  The tower was built in 1846, to be his private lighthouse.  He was denied this right and it became a whale lookout post for his whaling station.  This tower gave Boyd’s crew an advantage for sighting the whales first.  When a whale was sighted, two boats were launched from the beach below, each with a crew of 5-7 men. After Boyd left the area in the late 1840’s, the George Davidson whaling station also used Boyd Tower as a lookout post.  The tower was then added to Ben Boyd National Park in 1976.

The second sight we visited was the Davidson Whaling Station.  This took us down to the shoreline, where a few relics from the try-works still remain. Whale carcasses were hauled up on the nearby beach, cut into pieces, and brought to the try-works.  The try-works building was a 10m (~33ft) long shed where whale blubber was cooked and oil collected. This whaling sight was used from 1860 to 1929.

While we are extremely glad that whaling here in Australia is long over, it does still occurs elsewhere in the world.  To find out more check out “Save the Whales – Join the Fight” on our website. http://www.pacificwhale.org/content/save-whales-join-fight

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