Tag: Australia

Stonefish …

Evolution has equipped these guys with defenses so good they have no need for a flight response.

Wikipedia describes it as “the deadliest fish in the sea, with highly effective venom which can be lethal to humans.” Australia has two species, the Reef Stonefish Synanceia verrucosa and the Estuarine Stonefish S. horrida. They can be found in shallow marine environments from the Queensland NSW border around northern Australia to a little south of Shark Bay, WA. They are two of five species found throughout the warmer waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans extending into the Red Sea and the eastern Mediterranean (probably via the Suez Canal, oops). They are in the family Scorpaenidae along with the Lionfish and Scorpion fishes.

The fun starts if you step on them or grab them. They have about 13 spines along the top surface, each is supplied by two glands. The venom is a mixture of enzymes and other proteins. Pain begins almost immediately, is excruciating and disproportionate to the apparent size of the injury. It’s followed by swelling that may affect the entire limb.

As the effects reach the rest of the body there may be fever, delirium, muscle weakness or paralysis, pulmonary edema, respiratory difficulties, hypotension, bradycardia, arrhythmia, convulsions, heart failure and death. [Saggiomo et al 2021]

All of which could certainly put you off going to the beach. But good news, The deadliest fish in the sea has not been implicated in the death of an Australian since records began. Not something that can be said for sharks, blue-ringed octopuses, irukandji and crocodiles all of which can be found around Broome. Indeed only about 10% of hospital admissions due to stinging fish are the fault of Stonefish and that amounts to about 5 cases per year for the whole of Oz.

If you are off to the beach fastening your seat belt and remaining sober eliminate most of the risks you face. Wearing footwear with reasonably robust soles in shallow water further reduces the risk from stonefish.

For first aid immersion in hot water is recommended. This is not easily organised at the beach … I’d head for the hospital if there is one in easy reach. An antivenene is available.

Above all else don’t try this at home …

The Port …

Ten metre tides, mangroves and vast expanses of mud complicated matters for the fledgeling settlement of Broome. Coastal shipping brought supplies in and the shell and cattle out. A jetty was commissioned and began operation in 1897. Even though it was 900m long ships could only arrive or leave on high spring tides. Henceforth the good people of Broome could take advantage of the West Australian Steam Navigation Company’s fortnightly mail steamer service to travel to Perth or Darwin. SS Charon and SS Gorgon of the Blue Funnel Line traveling between Perth and Singapore called at Broome en route. At low tide they sat on the mud.

The original pier was at Mangrove Point now called Town Beach. It was connected to the commercial centre in Japtown by a tramway. The port was administered by the Department of Harbours and Lights. Names were so much more romantic in those days.

On the morning of October 11th 1935 a fire broke out. It was extinguished in about half an hour but destroyed about 50 feet (15m) of the jetty. Steele Rudd died the same day. The incidents were not related.

A new port was deemed necessary and was opened in 1986. It is situated a little less than 4km southwest of the old port at Entrance Point and offers improved freight handling and deeper water. It is managed by the Kimberley Ports Authority.

After the old port was retired the wharf was dismantled. In the last couple of years a new pier has been constructed which provides a fine promenade for tourists and somewhere for fisherpersons to reach deep water at high tide. It’s only about 200m long so high and dry at low tide. High and dry? Rather high and squishy, you can walk around it if you don’t mind muddy shoes. It makes a fine sight as the moon comes up …

Black Kite …

Some birds seem to fly with very little effort. Many seabirds fit the bill but still give an impression of great dynamism. Black Kites just float with a lazy nonchalance. They are common over Broome and are found throughout Australia. They are also found in Papua-New Guinea, Eurasia and Africa. Australian cricket fans will have seen them on TV when we play in India and South Africa.

Their legs are short and their talons are not especially powerful. They enjoy a bit of carrion, large insects and small mammals like mice. They congregate at rubbish tips and over bushfires. They have been known to help fires spread by carrying smouldering sticks into unburnt areas.

If you’re having a picnic watch out for your sandwich – pro tip, stay close to the trees.

Cultured …

According to Pliny the Elder Cleopatra was keen to impress Mark Antony …

“At this moment she was wearing in her ears those choicest and most rare and unique productions of Nature; and while Antony was waiting to see what she was going to do, taking one of them from out of her ear, she threw it into the vinegar, and directly it was melted, swallowed it

In other versions it is wine. Vinegar is sufficiently acid to dissolve a pearl (eventually) wine is not, Coke would certainly have tasted better. The story is probably untrue but there are two things we can say for certain … Cleopatra was cultured, the pearls of the time were not. Nor were the pearls from prewar Australia. Indeed the WA Pearling Act of 1912 prohibited the production, sale and possession of cultured pearls. That section of the Act remained in force until 1947.

It was buttons and pearl shell inlays that sustained the industry. Pearls were a welcome bonus but a master pearler of the time could not have put together a finely matched necklace in an entire career. The war stopped the industry in its tracks. The ports and airports of Northern Australia were of stategic importance pearl shell was not. The fleet was dispersed.

National WW2 Museum New Orleans

The map, filched shamelessly from The National WW2 Museum New Orleans, to which I’ve added Broome, shows the maximum extent of Japanese expansion and how close the war came to Australia.

Pearling resumed in 1946. The work force was about a quarter the prewar figure. There were no Japanese represented, nor would there be until 1953. A shortage of Luggers hindered production but the fishery had been rested for four years and buttons were in short supply. The industry picked up quickly in a world that was changing rapidly.

As a kid, if I lost a button, my mother would sort through her sewing box to find a matching replacement. Would it be a pearl one or one of the new and cheaper plastic ones?

Hard hat diving gave way to hookah diving, air was still delivered by hose from the surface but to a mouthpiece giving the diver greater freedom of movement. He was now looking for small specimens of the same species of oyster to take home live for cultivated pearl production.

The end product was no longer high volumes of low value shell. Pearling was now truly about the pearl, little balls of calcium carbonate but with a lustre and size that would have so shamed Cleopatra she’d have shoved a snake down her cleavage.

War in the Pacific …

The seasonal rhythm in Broome ticked along. The population of Japtown was a few hundred in the dry when the Pearlers were at sea. At the end of the season the population would quickly swell to more than three thousand for the wet. The Japanese had a long association with the sea and with pearling. In 1940 they constituted about 27 % of Broome’s pearling workforce. They were outnumbered by the Koepangers – indentured labourers recruited in Timor. (45%). By comparison the Chinese constituted just 0.5% 0f the pearling workforce. Smaller numbers of other Asian people and aboriginals made up the balance. Then add the merchants and those not employed in pearling. All manner of businesses thrived. It was a happy little melting pot living in vibrant harmony – between riots.

At dawn on November 7th 1941 the Japanese struck Pearl Harbour. Eight U.S. battleships were in port. All were hit, 5 being sunk and 1 heavily damaged; also sunk were 3 destroyers. Nine other ships were sunk or severely damaged; 140 aircraft were destroyed and 80 more damaged. 2,330 military personnel were killed and 1,145 wounded. It was the start of the War in the Pacific. For the next 6 months the Japanese carried all before them.

In Broome Pearling came to a halt. Women, children and nonessential workers were evacuated. The Japanese were interned. Many of the luggers were commandeered by the Navy – imagine the terror of the Japanese at the prospect of a fleet of luggers bearing down on them.

On February 19th 1942 Darwin was bombed. Japanese fighters and bombers attacked the port and shipping in the harbour twice during the day, killing 252 Allied service personnel and civilians.

On March 3rd 1942 nine Zero fighter planes strafed the moorings at Mangrove Point where there were 15 Flying Boats parked for refuelling. The airport was also attacked. The Flying Boats and 9 other aircraft were destroyed. At least 89 people were killed. The Flying Boats were carrying refugees from the Dutch East Indies. Most of the dead were women and children fleeing the Japanese advance. There were three further attacks on Broome.

In succeeding months air attacks were made on Wyndham, Port Hedland and Derby in Western Australia, Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory, Townsville and Mossman in Queensland, and Horn Island in the Torres Strait. In all Darwin was hit 64 times.

And now we call that part of town Chinatown.

Offering …

The shore of Dampier Creek offered a place where boats could be hauled out and there were fresh water soaks close at hand. It was a useful base for the pearlers. Streeter and Male founded a store nearby, a passage was cut through the mangroves and a jetty was built. It seems that the exact date is unknown but it was in existence prior to 1897. Streeters Jetty is still there and has recently been given a major facelift. It is as fine an example of a plain wooden jetty that you will find anywhere in Broome.

It had its limitations being useful only for small boats at high tide. It was underwater at very high tides and a long way from water at low tides. In 1897 a government jetty was constructed at Mangrove Point now called Town Beach. This served until the 1960’s. It was an improvement but ships still had to take the bottom between high tides.

Between Streeter’s and Town Beach there is a spot that gives a good view over the mangroves to what was then the port. There is a monument here to the womenfolk who waited here for the return of the luggers and schooners. If that gives the impression that life was a picnic spent sitting on the grass waiting for their men to turn up forget it. Think instead of the anxiety that would follow a storm. Who will return and who will not?

A fine pearl resembles the full moon …

Weather …

T’is nobler to stay in bed.

It arrived last night and a tropical downpour has been drumming on the roof ever since, a soothing and hypnotic sound. Tourists were not expecting this in the dry season. Caravan parks are overflowing – just like the gutters. By road Broome is a long way from anywhere else. City dwellers may be challenged by the notion that roads will be flooded and impassable.

The Gibb River Road winds through the remote KImberley region. If you take it easy in fine weather your 4WD will get you through, with skill and care your caravan may even survive and you can pick the contents of the cupboards up off the floor when you reach your destination. If anything goes wrong you are a long way from assistance.

This gem was posted on Facebook this morning …

“During the GRR closure, are we still able to use the road to leave? We’re currently at Drysdale River Station and urgently need to get to Derby to get our fridge fixed 🙄 “

… and pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere out in space – everybody knows you can’t get a fridge repaired in Derby!

Broome Time …

The monsoonal parts of Australia have simplified the calendar to just two seasons but that is nothing compared with what Broome has done to the clock.

Ask a tradesman when he can come and fix something, measure up, give you a quote, whatever. He’ll tell you next week, maybe. If you eventually get a quote you ask him when he can start. He tells you next week, maybe. If he starts its likely that he will disappear for a while. You ring him up and ask when he might finish. He tells you next week, maybe.

If you complain about it to a friend they are are likely to nod wisely and say Broome time.

Broome time is very similar to the Spanish concept mañana but without the urgency.