Today was cold, but at least the rain stayed away, mostly. We headed to the Albany Whaling Station for the morning. This was Australia’s last whaling station to be closed in 1978. I wasn’t super looking forward to what I was going to learn today, but at least what I saw was historical and not happening currently.

The Cheynes Beach Whaling Company operated in Albany from 1952 to 1978 when whaling was banned in Australia. Initially humpbacks were killed as they were slow swimming and easy to hunt, but they were globally declared a protected species in 1963. So the Albany establishment was able to access sperm whales in the Southern Ocean. The company processed 14,600 whales in the 26 years it operated, 1,400 humpbacks and the rest sperm whales. I am stunned that we were killing whales up until the late 70’s and that sperm whales were the main source. Albany provided 60% of the sperm whale oil to the world in the 70’s.

We started our tour on the Cheynes IV – the last whaling boat used in Albany. We were able to walk the entirety of the boat including under the deck which was very interesting. We met Stuart, a volunteer at the station who worked in the engine room of the boat. He had a lot of fascinating stories to tell.

There was a lot of information about how the whales were processed. We stood in each of the locations where gruesome activities occurred. It was a way of life for the workers – interestingly a few stories told of workers who in later life have become conservationists, and others that acknowledged the intelligence of the male sperm whales that had clearly been in a chase previously and had learned methods to evade the harpoon. Ultimately, the majority of the whalers found themselves out of high paying work when the industry was shut down.

I am glad I went today. I was able to view all the confronting information as it is historical (in Australia), not ongoing. Now that humpbacks in particular have recovered their numbers significantly it will be interesting to see if the governments maintain their bans on whaling.

A highlight was the skeleton display – particularly the pygmy blue whale that washed up in Albany in 1973. The head alone was enormous!

Once we’d passed the whole morning here (and into the afternoon), we organised our lunch and headed out to Misery Beach to enjoy it. This beach was named the best beach in Australia by Tourism Australia in 2022 and I can so see why. White sand, turquoise water and granite outcrops make for a stunning outlook.

It is called Misery Beach due to its proximity to the whaling station and the red blood-filled water, whale organs and sharks that frequented. Thankfully so different to what we saw today.

We spent quite a while here, before starting our coastal trail traverse for the afternoon. First stop was Salmon Beach, currently with access closed due to storm damage to the stairs. Still a great outlook.

Then we moved to Stony Hill – the name says it all. We enjoyed quite a bit of time here as well.

Then it was through to Jimmy Newell’s Lookout…

….before our final location at The Gap and Natural Bridge.

This evening we have checked out the camp kitchen at the park and were so impressed with it’s slow combustion fire and dual pizza ovens that we relocated there and have spent the night enjoying the space, cooking pizzas and playing cards. A lovely evening.

Tomorrow we leave Albany, but I really feel there is so much more we could explore here at another time. A really diverse and interesting place.