Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin)

Statement of Significance

Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin), has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
The place has considerable value as an archaeological site, being rare as a place where the original purpose is clearly apparent, thus having the ability to reveal characteristics of the early structures of the place.
The place was established in the 20th century and represented an attempt to re-establish the whaling industry in Western Australia.
The freshwater spring has historical significance with recorded use over more than 200 years, and usage also predating European settlement.
The set of concrete steps built in 1914 has aesthetic value as a rustic and aged element in the natural beach and bush setting.
The place is important for its association with the Norwegian and other Scandinavian whaling men who worked in a harsh, noxious and often dangerous industry in an isolated environment.

Note: The buildings associated with the former Frenchman Bay Tearooms/hostel and caravan park noted in the HCWA assessment have been demolished (c2010).

Physical Description

Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin) is located at Whalers Beach in Frenchman Bay on the south side of Waterbay Point, located on reserve land. The site comprises remnants of a bay whaling station established in 1915 by the Norwegian owned Spermacet Whaling Company. Remnants include objects of brick, stone and unreinforced concrete of the former manufacturing infrastructure. The curtilage also includes the Vancouver Spring.

History

On 1 January 1912 a seven-year licence was issued to the Cape Leeuwin Whaling Company (renamed the Spermacet Whaling Company in November 1913), the Western Australian Whaling Company (located at Point Cloates in the northwest) and the Fremantle Whaling Company, all of which had been established by the Norwegian firm of Christian Nielsen & Associates. To ensure the best benefits for the State, the licences required the construction of shore stations. Whalers operating from factory ships were unable to use the whole carcass and only processed the whale for the oil, whereas a shore station allowed the manufacture of guano (fertiliser), cattle fodder and bonemeal from what remained. On 29 October 1912, the ships arrived at Albany and began hunting sperm whales. The Company took 205 sperm whales during the 1912-13 summer, which were processed on a factory ship. The Cape Leeuwin Company's ships assisted in the northwest hunt again in the winter of 1913, and in October, the Company leased an area at Frenchman Bay for its shore station. The area was created as Plantagenet Location 3961 and did not include the site of the dam and lighter jetty, although the Company purchased the jetty from Armstrong & Waters.

In November 1913, the Company's name was officially changed to the Spermacet Whaling Company. The Company hunted sperm whales again during the 1913-14 summer but not as successfully as the previous summer. Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin) was built early in 1914 on the leased land at Frenchman Bay, at a cost of £20,000 to £28,000. The buildings were constructed from imported timber and bricks, but there was some local building material used. A report in the Albany Advertiser in February 1914 on the revival of the timber industry stated that a consignment of karri flooring measuring 6” by 1.5” and 6” by 1” had been delivered to Albany from a mill at Denmark to ‘the order of the Whaling Co who are using it in their buildings at Frenchman Bay’. The ramp on the seaward end of the flensing deck went out into about ten-feet of water. It appeared to have been held in position by eight to ten large wooden crates about eight-foot square filled with pieces of granite. The slats of the crates were spaced about six inches apart, apparently to allow the underwater surge to pass through.

During the operation of Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin), the beach became ‘most unpleasant, with a thick coating of oil and large pieces of whale lying around, and a noisome smell’. There were no roads connecting Frenchman Bay to Albany and all supplies had to come in by sea.

On 15 December 1915, Spermacet’s closed down owing to a poor whaling season and the impact of World War I – the size of the sperm whale catch had made the undertaking economically unfeasible and the War created suspicions that the Norwegian whalers were sympathisers of Germany. The boilers and equipment were relocated to the new station established that year at Point Cloates, but the buildings were left behind. During its period of operation, the Spermacet Company had taken 1,125 whales, producing 28,675 casks of oil (1.2 million gallons) and 730 tons of fertiliser.

By 1935, Frenchman Bay was now being promoted as a beauty spot and was popular among holiday makers and honeymooners. Reserve 2295 was cancelled and was included with the site of the former Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin) in a new reserve, 21337 for the purpose of camping, which was vested in the Albany Road Board. The Albany Road Board called tenders for the leasing of an area of the Reserve, to include specifications for improvements to cater to tourists. Included in the lease was the right to draw water from the dam at Vancouver's Spring and to erect a pump and pipes for the purpose.

The purpose of Reserve 21337 was soon altered to ‘Recreation, Health & Pleasure Resort with the first lease issued to Herbert (Bert) Harding who erected a hostel and tea rooms'. Harding's 'Frenchman's Bay Hostel' offered accommodation and supplied dainty afternoon teas, cool drinks, ices, lunches, fruit, confectionary and other necessities for the perfect picnic. Fresh running water from the spring and shade from the abundant number of willow-leafed Peppermint Myrtles (Agonis flexuosa) in the area added to the appeal of the Bay. By 1938 a tennis court had been laid and a golf course was under construction. During the war years, defence force personnel posted to the signal station on Stony Hill, a few miles to the west, spent their leave at Frenchman Bay. The hostel closed in the 1970s and the tearooms in the 1990s.

On 1 October 1963, in the presence of 150 people and after much research to establish the location where Captain George Vancouver had watered his ships, Discovery and Chatham in September 1791, the Albany Historical Society erected a Notch Weir Memorial at the site of the spring at Frenchman Bay.

In 2005, title to the freehold land on the bluff was transferred to Frenchman's Bay Pty Ltd, and the site was further subdivided into two lots. A development proposal for the site included the demolition of the vacant hostel and tearooms and only the concrete steps from Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin) were retained. However the development did not proceed. The Notch Weir Memorial remains in place, and Vancouver's Spring and the dam remain largely intact in the undergrowth. The ruins of Frenchman Bay Whaling Station (ruin) remain along the beach and the concrete steps continue to provide access between the beach and the bluff.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Moderate/Low
Authenticity: Moderate

Condition

Poor

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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