Kimberley Region WA 3 - Shire of Wyndham

Photo: Gorge scene, Wyndham Shire

The Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley covers a vast area of 121,000 sq kms and is one of the four local governments in the Kimberley Region.

The Shire has one of the oldest (Wyndham) and one of the newest (Kununurra) towns in Western Australia. Add to that the largest producing diamond mine in the world together with some of the most spectacular as well as culturally rich landscapes on earth.

Kununurra was gazetted in 1960 and is both the youngest and largest town in the East Kimberley. From its humble beginnings as a small settlement that catered for the workers employed for the construction of the first part of the Ord River Scheme, Kununurra is now a vibrant centre that offers modern services, shopping facilities, an intensive agriculture, mining and tourism sector, a host of community activities and a lifestyle that suits the 6000 people that call Kununurra home.

In the local Aboriginal dialect the name Kununurra means "The Meeting Of The Big Waters" and water (and fishing) is a feature. Gorges and waterfalls, several big tidal rivers, dozens of smaller streams and creeks, Lake Kununurra, and the huge expanse of Lake Argyle.

The community of Warmun (Turkey Creek) Warmun is located about 200 kilometres south west of Kununurra on the Great Northern Highway.

Servicing the small community and the surrounding cattle stations, Warmun is also ideally located to those visitors that are travelling into the Purnululu National Park. The Warmun Art Centre exhibits many of the local indigenous artists and is a popular gallery that many choose to visit while in the community.

Photo: View from Five Rivers Lookout, Wyndham

The town of Wyndham is located on the far northern coast of Australia and was originally established in 1886 as a result of the gold rush to Halls Creek further to the south. In its heyday it boasted of six thriving pubs and its location in Cambridge Gulf provided an excellent port facility for the region.

Today Wyndham provides a vital link in the export of live cattle, sugar from the Kununurra sugar mill and serves as a shipping facility to the numerous mining ventures in the region. The port today also caters for the numerous tourism vessels that ply the Kimberley coast or offer fishing charters to remote parts of the region.

The boom days for Wyndham were during the operating years of the Wyndham Meatworks which employed around 500 workers. Today with a population of about 850 Wyndham remains a small frontier style centre typical of the character of the Kimberley - unpretentious and friendly, but proud of its heritage.

Further Information

Further information about about the area including living and tourism possibilities can be obtained from the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley and from Kununurra Tourism. For a somewhat idiosyncratic but useful personal view see Kimberley Australia Travel Guide.

Kimberley Region WA 1 - Introduction

In my last post Getting the local gossip - ABC Regional Radio I mentioned Kununurra in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. I thought that I might follow this up with a few posts on the region itself, in some ways one of the most romantic and interesting regions in Australia.

One of West Australia's nine regions, the Kimberley is located in the northern part of the state, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory. It covers an area of 424,517 km2, which is about twice the size of England.

The first settlers arrived in the Kimberley around 40,000 years ago from the islands that are now Indonesia.

While the Dutch may have visited the coast on their way north to the East Indies, the first recorded European visit was by the Englishman William Dampier in 1688 and then again in 1699. Many of the coastal features of the area around the modern town of Broome are named by him.

In 1879, Charles Harper suggested that the pearling industry that had begun in the 1850s could be served by a port closer to the pearling grounds, and that Roebuck Bay would be suitable. In 1883, John Forrest selected the site for the town, and it was named after the Governor of Western Australia, Sir Frederick Broome. Then in 1889, a telegraph undersea cable was laid from Broome to Singapore, connecting to England. Broome

Broome grew quite quickly because of pearling, attracting workers of many nationalities and especially Japanese. However, the riches from the pearl beds did not come cheap, and the town's Japanese cemetery is the resting place of more than 900 Japanese divers who lost their lives working in the industry. Many were lost at sea and the exact number of deaths is unknown.

Pastoral settlement started around 1885, when cattle were driven across Australia from the eastern states in search of good pasture lands. Mary Durack's book Kings in Grass Castles tells the story of this period. Many other Europeans arrived soon after, when gold was discovered around Halls Creek.

Despite this initial growth, economic development in the Kimbererley struggled because of remoteness and high costs. The pearling industry was reduced to a shadow of itself because of collapse in the price of mother of pearl. Then during the war both Broome and Derby, the region's second port, were heavily bombed by the Japanese air force.

Since the war and especially in recent decades, the region has undergone an economic resurgence.

The pearl industry has grown because of the development of the cultured pearl industry. The development of the Ord River scheme during the 1950s created a new centre, Kunanurra, in the east near the Northern Territory border.

Diamonds were discovered: one third of the worlds annual production of diamonds are mined at the Argyle and the Ellendale diamond mines. Oil is extracted from the Blina oil field and gas is expected to be taken from offshore sources soon. Zinc and lead are mined at the Pillara, Sallay Mallay and Cadjebut mines near Fitzroy Crossing and exported from Derby after being trucked to the town.

Most recently, the Kimberley has become a major tourism destination for people attracted by the area's history, spectacular scenery and growing range of attractions.

Today, the population of the Kimberley is around 38,000, growing at a rate of 4.8% per year, around three times the state average. The population is fairly evenly distributed, with only three towns having populations in excess of 2,000: Broome, Derby and Kununurra. About half of the region's population are of Aboriginal descent.

The Kimberley has a tropical monsoon climate. During the "wet season", from November to April, the region receives about 90% of its rainfall, and cyclones are common especially around Broome. The annual rainfall, however, is highest in the northwest, where Kalumburu averages 1270mm (50 inches) per year, and lowest in the southeast where it is around 520mm (20 inches). In the "dry season", from May to October, south easterly breezes bring sunny days and cool nights.

Note on sources

This material is drawn especially from a number of Wikipedia articles. Links are included to the original material.

Kimberley Region WA 4 - useful web sites

Photo: A proud boab with a storm brewing behind. Photo by Gayle Keys.

I have created this page to provide a consolidated point to list web sites that I have found to be useful in exploring the vast Kimberley region. I will add sites progressively.

Local Government

• Shire of Derby/West Kimberley
• Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley

Tourism

• Kimberley Australia Travel Guide
• Kununurra Tourism

History

• Broome historical site
• Wikipedia article on pearling in WA
• Australian Government's Cultural and Recreational Portal has an overview article on the history of pearling in Australia. This includes links to other sites
• WA Fisheries article on the history of pearling in WA

Media

• ABC Kimberley

Kimberley Region WA 5 - You know that you are in the Kimberley when...

Photo:You never know who you'll meet on the Gibb River road. Photo by Vanessa Mills

ABC Kimberley has been running a series based around the theme You know that you are in the Kimberley when. I thought that I would share some of the entries with you.

You know that you are in the Kimberley when:

Your Easter Monday entertainment is watching a steady stream of cars get bogged trying to get around the rocks to north Cable Beach. (Lyn, Broome).

You have to keep moving the car down the beach so you can be near the water with kids and still able to get a beer from the car fridge. (Wendy, Broome).

After arriving in Broome from Perth and transferring to Airnorth for Kununurra, you're told your luggage will be off-loaded because of weather and the weight factor, but your fishing rods are fine to travel on! (Cindy, Broome).

You have to empty the rain gauge half way through a storm. (Glen, Broome).

You don't blink as a gecko runs across your kitchen wall and two frogs jostle for position on your laundry trough. (Kerry, Derby).

You can’t find your four wheel drive in the long grass on the way back from a swim! (Natika, Wyndham).

Everyone in the street looks you in the eye and greets you as you pass (Shireen, Perth).

You go for a Sunday drive (in the Wet) and it takes you 3 weeks to get back home (Phil).

The trucks all have three trailers. (Garry, Broome).

You own 6 different pairs of thongs (Vanessa, Broome).

You find a 9 foot python in the linen cupboard, again and again, and again (Tracey, Kununurra).

You can read the paper by lightning, after the power goes out. (Browny, Kununurra).

Regional Australia - Musings

I feel reasonably satisfied with the way that the Kimberley series is evolving. It takes time to do this type of series, but I now feel that I have a much better understanding of an area that I have always been interested in but knew far too little about.

Unlike some Australian regions, the Kimberley has a high web presence in part, I think, because of the romance attached to the name. It is also an area that will continue to grow in relative importance, building its own unique presence in the Australian mosaic.

In a post earlier this month, Regional Australia - what people search on, I commented on the wide variety of search topics that drew people to this site.

Looking at recent searches I find the same, very varied, pattern. I also find when I look at the most popular entry pages that there is no clear pattern. As you might expect, the blog front page is a very clear winner, but then come a large number of pages with the same score.

I find it interesting to replicate some of the searches as a way of finding out new things from other people's interests. Stops me becoming too obsessed with my own interests. However, this can also be frustrating.

I followed up one search to find a very interesting article in the Brisbane Courier Mail on variations in food across Australia. I had to go. When I came back exactly the same search failed to show up the article. So very real frustration. I should have bookmarked it for later use, but simply did not think about it. Ah well.

Kimberley Heritage Cattle Drive

In Swimming, Kununurra, I mentioned that eldest was visiting Kunnunurra for the first time. Then in today's Australian Lyndall Crisp had an interesting piece, Three days in the saddle, on her experiences on the Home Valley Station Heritage Cattle Dive. Home Valley is a major Aboriginal owned station in the Kimberley's.

I had intended to write a full companion piece setting Lyndall's experiences in a broader context. Sadly, I cannot download the supporting visual material that I require.

I have submitted a request to Home Valley Station to access that material. In the meantime, do read Lyndall's piece. The video she includes is good, but you need to let it run a little before getting onto the cattle drive itself.    

Kimberley Region WA 6 - a note

I have been doing a series of posts exploring the Kimberley Region in West Australia.

I noticed that Heather from the Australia Travel Guide blog has just visited the area and has also been doing some posts. You can find her posts here, here and here.

Regional Living Australia end month review - August 2007

Another month and now the start of spring!

August was a bit of a messy month. Having got behind in posting, I struggled a little to catch up. Still, after just five posts in July, August saw me get back to my target of 2-3 posts per week, with 10 posts in the month. Not all very profound perhaps, a bit over the place in fact, but a start.

Four of the ten posts dealt in some way with Australian culture. This reflects my long standing interest in teasing out the patterns in Australian culture and especially the way these vary across Regional Australia.

In The Differing Cultures of Regional Australia - Polyculturalism, I was really trying to construct a framework that would allow me to better understand and present cultural variation across Australia.

Here I suggested that there was a core Australian culture that itself varied to some degree across Australia. Then there were the various migrant cultures co-existing with the core culture.

Australia is a land of migrants. Each new migrant group has contributed to the core culture in some way. So the core culture itself has shifted over time as a consequence. Because patterns of life and and of migration have varied across Australia, so has the cultural mix.

I extended this argument in Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney. Examining some of the differences between Sydney and Melbourne, I concluded:

When we extend this analysis across Australia, we are left with a smorgasbord of different life styles, cultures and attractions. Sometimes it can be difficult for those of us living here to see it. We actually have to leave the country to see the differences.

To re-emphasize this point, compare Melbourne's European cafe society with elements of life in Darwin (and here) or the Kimberley. Or, again, with another post I put up during the month, Judith Wright's The Hawthorn Hedge - Regional Australia writers.

Especially in her earlier writing, Judith Wright is very much a New England writer, although Queensland also tries to claim her on the grounds that she lived there for thirty years! One thing I achieved during the month was the creation of an entry page on the New England Australia blog for the writing I have started to do on Judith Wright.

Because I am now writing so much on the cultures of Regional Australia, I have turned one post, The Differing Cultures of Regional Australia - Introduction, into an entry page for all my posts in this area. With time, and it is going to take time just to reference past posts, I hope that this will turn into a useful resource.

There were two posts during August dealing with Regional Australia's universities.

The first, University of New England acts to stamp out cheating by overseas students, dealt with the problems that UNE had experienced in this area. One point that I tried to make is that overseas students, and especially those who are looking to gain Australian permanent residency, must comply with Australian standards.

Because this story might cast doubts on UNE, I followed it with a second story on that university's continued high rankings in the student satisfaction surveys. This links to a point that I make regularly to both metro and overseas students, the way that all the universities in Regional Australia rank high on key student indicators as compared to their metro cousins.

I also carried a number of individual stories in August. One was a personal note on Aboriginal art, giving a very useful link through to a very good blog on this topic. A second, Going bush for city slickers - introduction, marked the start of a new series on the pleasures and pitfalls involved in acquiring that bush retreat.

Turning now to the most popular entry pages, by far the most popular post after the front page was the post on the differences between Melbourne and Sydney. This was followed, if with a substantial gap, by Australia's Indigenous Heritage - Big Sky Country, then by Kimberley Region WA 2 - The Romance of Pearls and Pearling.

These posts were followed by four with roughly equal ranking: Australian Regional Food - Bush Tucker and the Australian Aborigines, Aboriginal Art - a personal note, Regional Australia - Population and Residential Building Hotspots and Judith Wright's The Hawthorn Hedge - Regional Australia writers.

Then came a handful with two visits each.

Arnhem Land - introductory post

Photo: Nanydjaka Cape Arnhem Coast

After my Kimblerley series, I thought that it was time to open up a new regional series on places that I have not visited, but have always wanted to go to.

Here I noticed that the Kimberley series gets a steady stream of hits, in part I think that it does provide a consolidated series of posts with links.

The introductory post on Arnhem Land in Wikipedia notes that this is an area of 97,000 sq km (to put this is in perspective England has an area of 130,410 sq km) in the north-eastern corner of the Northern Territory. The region was named by Matthew Flinders after the Dutch ship Arnhem which explored the coast in 1623.

The area was declared an Aboriginal Reserve in 1931. Growing up, it was a remote, little known, but romantic place. Today it is perhaps best known for its continuing remoteness, its art, and the strong continuing traditions of its indigenous people.

Over coming posts I will provide basic information about the area and its attractions. So do come with me on a voyage of mutual discovery.

Next post.

Understanding Australia's regional differences - introduction

One thing I have noticed in examining the search engine listings that bring people to this site is the continuing interest in regional difference in Australia. I thought, therefore, that I might provide some clues to help visitors understand the differences.

The starting point is geography. Geography - landforms, soils, climate - affects every aspect of life. To start with a broad example.

In a coastal tropical region you are likely to find cyclone advice pinned to your door. You will find that you should not swim in the sea during parts of the year because of the presence of dangerous stingers. You may find warnings about crocodiles. You will find the architecture different - more open room, fans.

Compare this with arid Australia. There you will find warnings about driving without water, about what to do if you break down, about the need to let people know what your plans are so that you can be found if lost.

This type of broad difference cascades down into a variety of differences at regional and sub-regional level. Each area has its own pattern of life dictated by the seasons and by varying economic activity.

Then, too, each area has its own history and ethnic mix, again affected by geography. The look and feel of the streetscape varies, not just in terms of architecture but in the people themselves.

To get a feel for this, look first at the posts on New England, a major regional area centred on the New England Tablelands and the adjoining river valleys spreading to the east and west of the tablelands. This is a large area with its own diversity.

Photo: Hailstorm, Armidale, New England.

Now compare this with the posts on the Kimberley region, a major region on the other side of the continent. You could in fact be in a different country!

Photo: You never know who you'll meet on the Gibb River road. The Kimberleys. Photo by Vanessa Mills

To some degree, these regional differences are concealed by the presence of English as a core common language, although more than a hundred languages are spoken in Australia. They are also concealed by common institutions and a shared if sometimes divergent history. Yet they remain very real, if sometimes unseen.

In my next post in this series I will look at ways to identify and understand regional difference.

Regional Living Australia - favourite entry pages

Photo: Rooms have views; so do farms. Gordon Smith

Every so often I look at the favourite entry points for visitors.

After the front page, the next favourite page is Australia's Indigenous Heritage - Big Sky Country. I am sure that peoples sorted on the first three words, whereas this post in fact dealt with Aboriginal tourist sites across New England. I probably need to include some better links to the various indigenous posts that I have written.

The next favourite post, Winifred West - Frensham, Gib Gate and Sturt, dealt with the remarkable story of Winifred West and the schools that she founded.

On equal ranking was Regional Australia's Universities - student satisfaction rankings. Nice to see this story still getting a run, because Australia's regional universities continue to score well on student satisfaction.

This was followed by a recent post, Aboriginal Art - a personal note. I would love to do a proper post helping people access a range of material in this area, but i fear that this will have to wait.

The last post in this top group was Kimberley Region WA 2 - The romance of pearls and pearling. Again I was pleased, because too few people know the place that pearls have played in Australian history.

The Circuit - World Class Top End Drama

Photo: Drew Ellis, the latest lawyer to join the chaotic and challenging world of the Kimberley Circuit Court.

The Circuit follows a magistrate and an entourage of court officers and lawyers on a regular five-day 2000 kilometre round-trip to dispense justice to the remote communities of north Western Australia.

It’s a tough gig for anyone, but for Drew Ellis, a city blackfella, it’s a rude awakening as he quickly comes to realise that one law for two cultures does not always equal a fair go.

The Circuit is a marvellous show for anyone who wants to see just how different and varied Australian life can be. For overseas readers who really do want to see a different world, the series is coming out on DVD.

Regional Living Australia reader interests July 11

Back in 2007 I wrote a short series of posts on the Kimberley region. Eldest left this morning for Kununurra to visit her boyfriend who is a pilot with Alligator Airways, so I am going to be able to get a direct update. In the meantime, we have reached month's end. 

At the end of each month I look at the most popular posts on this blog to get a feel for reader interests. The most popular posts on this blog in July were:

• Moree - live the lifestyle 81 page views
• What food did the Aborigines eat in New England? 28 page views
• Experiencing regional difference within Australia 24 page views
• Sydney barrister tree-changes to Glen Innes 21 page views
• Studying in Regional Australia - Central Queensland University 20 page views
• Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney 17 page views
• Getting the Best out of Regional Living - Wagga Wagga case study 16 page views
• Gordon Smith's outback adventure 16 page views
• Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange NSW 15 page views

Regional Living Australia - end month review October 2007

In my last end month review I commented that I was getting back to regular posting and that, consequently, September traffic was well up.

Maintaining this in October proved a bit more difficult than I expected. At 9, the number of posts was one down. Further, posting was a bit irregular. As a result, October traffic was a little bit down from September.

What did people look at?

The most popular entry page after the front page was Tree Change, Sea Change Stories, a very short post giving a link through to another site.

This was followed by two equal stories. The first was the Land Newspaper and Australian Rural Life, the second the archive for August 2007. I am not sure just what brought visitors to the archive page, but there were some good posts in August.

Then came another archive page, this time for July 2006. Again I do not know what people searched on, but this one really took me back because July 2006 was this blog's first ever month.

This archive page ranked equally with three others.

The first was Kimberley Region WA 2 - the romance of pearls and pearling, a post that features regularly in the top group. Equal with this was Australia's Indigenous Heritage - Big Sky Country, another post often in the top group. also equal was another archive post, this time for April 2007.

Then came six equal posts:

• Guyra, New England - the birds of Bradley Street, a regional development story.
• Regional Australia's Universities - student satisfaction rankings.
• Regional Australia - Population and Residential Building Hotspots.
• Gordon Smith's New Outback Tour. I was pleased to see this, because Gordon's photos are rather wonderful.
• Aboriginal Art - a personal note.
• Australian Regional Dialects - Harry Potter learns to speak South Australian.

The list this time is far more diverse, and brings out some of the diversity of this blog.

Where to next?

I want this blog to be both enjoyable and useful. On the first, I need to have regular posts with variety. On the second, I need more cross-links together with a greater focus on themes to avoid becoming to itsy bitsy. Let's see how I go over November!

Australia's busiest regional airports 2005-2006

Statistical data has always fascinated me. Probably something wrong in my childhood, but I do find numbers interesting. In this context, I spent a little time browsing airport data to find Regional Australia's top regional airports measured by passenger numbers in 2005-2006.

A list of the top (thirty four) follows, using 100,000 revenue passengers as the cut off point. I found the list an interesting reflection of modern Australia.

Without being too scientific about it, seventeen owe their position in whole or part to tourism, seven are mining centres, three are capital cities.

One. Cairns in North Queensland, 3,731,178, up from 2,594,857 in 1995-96. This total includes 855,949 international passengers, up from 694,650 in 1995-1996.

Two. Gold Coast, coastal resort city in South East Queensland, 3,515,021, up from 1,992,862 in 1995-1996. This total includes 210, 495 international passengers, up from zero in 1995-1996.

Three. Canberra, the national capital, 2,550,129, up from 1,749,608 in 1995-1996.

Four. Hobart, Tasmania's capital city, 1,605,978, up from 850,295 in 1995-1996. Hobart used to have a small number of international flights, but these stopped during 1997-98.

Five. Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory, 1,219,376, up from 931,578 in 1995-1996. This total includes 116,454 international passengers, down from 141,703 in 1995-1996.

Six. Launceston, city in Northern Tasmania, 925,637, up from 588,262 in 1995-1996.

Seven. Williamtown (Newcastle), major Hunter Valley industrial city and port, 816,651, up from 105,947 in 1995-1996.

Eight. Maroochydore, Queensland Sunshine Coast, 786,168, up from 309,885 in 1995-1996.

Nine. Mackay, service and tourism city in Northern Queensland, 660,632, up from 289,838 in 1995-1996.

Ten. Alice Springs in Central Australia, 605,073, down from 853,274 in 1995-1996. I wonder what the reason was for this fall.

Eleven. Rockhampton, tourism and service city in Central Queensland, 588,028, up from 312,853 in 1995-1996.

Twelve. Hamilton Island, Queensland Barrier Reef resort, 432,051, up from 306,287 in 1995-1966.

Thirteen. Ayers Rock (Uluru) in Central Australia, 377, 812, slightly up from 325,131 in 1995-1996.

Fourteen. Coffs Harbour, seaside resort on the New England/NSW Mid North Coast, 322,206, up from 168,626 in 1995-1996.

Fifteen. Broome, Kimberley region Western Australia, 302,061, up from 216,996 in 1995-1996. Broome used to have a small number of scheduled international flights, but these ended in 2001-2002.

Sixteen. Ballina, a seaside service centre and resort town on the New England/NSW North Coast, 269,886, well up from 79,277 in 1995-1996.

Seventeen. Karratha, mining service centre in WA's Pilbara region, 261,825, up from 162,072 in 1995-1996.

Eighteen. Proserpine, service centre for Queensland's Whitsunday Coast, 222,592, up from 96,805 in 1995-1996.

Nineteen. Townsville, major North Queensland city, 215,959, up from 143,548 in 1995-1996. Townsville was also a small international airport, but this stopped during 2001-2002.

Twenty. Albury, 198,020, up from 149,698 in 1995-1996. Albury is an inland city in NSW on the Murray River.

Twenty one. Kalgoorlie, WA mining town, 192,891, up from 187,793 in 1995-1996.

Twenty two. Wagga Wagga, major service city in the Riverina region of NSW, 171,677, up from 123,538 in 1995-1996.

Twenty three. Gladstone, industrial city and service centre on the Central Queensland coast, 159,950, up from 104,379 in 1995-1996.

Twenty four. Dubbo, inland city in the central west of NSW, 155,805 passengers, up from 109,837 in 1995-1996.

Twenty five. Mildura, Victorian Murray River town, 154,654, up from 86,260 in 1995-1996.

Twenty six. Hervey Bay, coastal resort and retirement city in South East Queensland, 140,863, well up from 40,348 in 1995-1996.

Twenty seven. Port Lincoln, South Australian fishing centre, 138,547, up from 89,290 in 1995-1996.

Twenty eight. Mount Isa, Queensland mining city, 132,475, up from 101,468 in 1995-1996.

Twenty nine. Port Hedland, port and service centre in WA's Pilbara region, 120,931, down from 128,739 in 1995-1996. Port Hedland used to have a small number of international flights, but these ceased in 1999-2000.

Thirty. Port Macquarie, resort centre, New England/NSW Mid North Coast, 108,969, up from 75,899 in 1995-1996.

Thirty one. Gove, mining town on the edge of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, 108,427, down from 131,427 in 1995-19956.

Thirty two. Mount Gambier, South Australia, 102,121, up from 61,205 in 1995-1996.

Thirty three. Armidale, 100,984, up from 66,384 in 1995-1995. Armidale is an educational centre in Australia's New England.

Thirty four. Newman, mining town in WA's Pilbara region, 100,518, up from 68,267 in 1995-96.

Swimming, Kununurra

As I mentioned earlier in the month, eldest has been to Kununarra in the Kimberley's in Western Australia to visit boyfriend.

I had wondered what her reactions would be.

While she was born in Armidale, she has been living in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and in some ways has become a metro girl.

She really enjoyed herself.

I will do a proper interview later, but for the moment I just wanted to include this water scene.  

A pause - diamonds

Just at the moment I am researching the next stories on the Kimberley Region. As part of this, I have been gathering stories on diamonds.

This has been taking time, in part because I keep getting sidetracked. I hope to have more shortly.

Regional Australia - what people search on

I have just done a review of some of the search engine visits to see what interests people. It's a varied collection.

The first search that came up was alternative living lifestyle tasmania. This site came up because of reference to alternative but not linked to Tasmania. However, there have been two posts about Tasmania and alternative life styles, the story of Contessa.

The preceeding post was another Google search on global problems of olive cultivation. Because I am interested we have carried several stories here, including some links that may have been helpful.

Then there was the search on Google Netherlands on "west australia" + cattle + stay. I imagine the site came up because of the Kimberley series. However, in this case I am not sure that the visitor would have found much of help.

In terms of specialist interests, there was a Google search on John Edye, pottery. Here the visitor found the story on Winifred West and Sturt, a story that may have been useful although I noticed a number of other direct references in the search results.

Before this there was a Google search on Reasons for living in Cooma. This picked up the blog's sea change label, although looking at this made me realise that the sea change label is in fact inadequate.

Then there was a Google seach on History of Murray-Darling River in Australia. This picked up a story on paddle steamers on the Murray-Darling. In fact, there is a fair bit more, but it is on other related blogs. Perhaps I should do a consolidation post.

So six searches, six very different topics.

Regional Living Australia - end month review September 2007

Another month, another review. I said in the August review that I was getting back to regular posting again, with September traffic up from August, with August up in turn from the July low point. One pleasing point (chart below) was the number of visitors who looked at more than one page.

So what did people look at?

The most popular page after the front page itself was again the post Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney, although its lead did decline. Then came Regional Australia's Universities - student satisfaction rankings. Looking back, I see that this page was in the top group back at the start of August. As I said then, good to see.

Australia's Indigenous Heritage - Big Sky Country retained its place in the top group, followed by the re-appearance of Kimberley Region WA 2 - the romance of pearls and pearling. On equal place came Judith Wright's The Hawthorn Hedge - Regional Australia writers. All my Judith Wright posts on several blogs (entry page here) have been popular, in part I think because a fair number of students are studying her poems for the year 12 exams.

When I look at the source of the last 100 visitors, twenty came direct, seven from the Regional Living Australia web site, seven from my other blogs, two from olives101, my favourite olives site. So if my my maths is correct, that leaves 65 from search engines.

If we look at country of origin as set out in the chart below, Australia dominates traffic at 52 per cent, followed by the US on 10 per cent.

Kimberley Region WA 2 - The romance of pearls and pearling

Painting: Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Jan Vermeer van Delft.

Pearls have gripped human imagination for thousands of years.

Pearls were worn in civilised Middle East and Asian societies as early as 3500 BCE, and continued to grow in popularity during Roman times when pearl fever reached its peak. A pearl earring reportedly paid for one Roman general's political campaigns. Cleopatra dissolved a pearl in wine and drank it to prove her love to Marc Antonius.

When my daughter turned eighteen several thousand years later, her chosen present was a string of pearls. Her grandmother loved pearls too.

Where there is romance and value there is also human endeavour, bravery, greed and death. We can see all this in the history of the pearl industry in West Australia. The material that follows is drawn from a variety of sources. Links are given at the end of the post.

Australia's pearling industry dates from Aboriginal times. Northern Australian coastal dwelling Aborigines harvested the abundant pearl shell from the shallow waters and had a well established trading network for pearl shell. In Western Australia, an explorer saw an aboriginal wearing a pearly oyster-shell which had travelled at least 500 miles from its point of origin.

The European pearling industry began in the 1850s at Shark Bay where natural pearls were found in the Pinctada albina oyster. From 1862-68, local Aborigines worked 'dry shelling' without wages, collecting oysters in the shallow waters of the Bay.

Within three years, the supply was so low that larger boats were sent out two kilometres off shore to collect oysters in deep water. Six to eight Aboriginal men and women in a boat would 'naked dive' for shell. This meant diving deep without equipment.

In 1866, two speculators, Hicks and Tays were shown pearl shells near Broome by local Aborigines. The following year a shipment of 9 tons of pearl shell was sold for £2000. When the larger Pinctada maxima oyster producing high quality mother-of-pearl shell was discovered in areas north of Nickol Bay near present day Karratha, the industry spread rapidly along the north west coast (see graphic).

The invention of diving suits - vulcanised canvas suits with massive bronze helmets - revolutionised the pearling industry. Divers could go deeper than ever before, stay longer underwater and collect more shell and pearls.

This was still no easy task, for the suits were heavy and cumbersome. In the words of the WA Department of Fisheries:

"On the bottom they struggled about in lead-weighted boots, often almost horizontal as they peered through inch-thick faceplates into murky waters, frantically scooping oysters into bags because divers were paid by the amount of shell they collected."

By 1910, nearly 400 pearling luggers and more than 3500 people were fishing for shell in waters around Broome, making it the world's largest pearling centre. The photo shows pearl luggers at Roebuck Bay, Broome in about 1912

Workers were gathered from all over the world. The majority of the workers were Japanese and Malaysian, but also included Chinese, Filipino, Amborese, Koepanger (Timorese) and Makassan, as well as Indigenous Australians and people from Europe. The photo (left) from the Broome Historical Society shows Aboriginal workers with diving gear in the late 19th century.

The work was always dangerous. Apart from industrial risks such as accidents, sharks or the bends, there were also major weather risks associated with the area's periodic cyclones, often resulting in major loss of life.

The industry went into into sharp decline after the First World War as the price of mother-of-pearl plummeted with the invention and expanded use of plastics for buttons and other articles previously made of shell. By 1939 only 73 luggers and 565 people were left in the industry

During the Second World War pearling virtually stopped. Japanese divers went home or were interned, while Japanese bombing of Broome destroyed many of the remaining luggers. Following the war, as few as 15 boats employing around 200 people remained.

The development of cultured pearls by the Japanese rebuilt the industry. In 1956 the first cultured pearl farm was setup at Kuri Bay, 420 km north of Broome. By 1981 this had increased to five pearl farms. Today the industry includes 19 of Australia's 20 cultured pearl farms, generating annual exports of AUD$200M and employing approximately 1000 people.

Note on Sources

The Costello's jewellery site has short introductory material on pearls. Wikipedia has a general article on pearls. Wikipedia also has an article on pearling in WA. There is a short WA Fisheries article on the history of pearling in WA, while the Australian Government's Cultural and Recreational Portal has an overview article on the history of pearling in Australia. This includes links to other sites including the Broome historical site.