So i came to Broome looking for employment and i found myself working as a modern day slave in an industry that is over 100 years old!
Situated near the tiny settlement of Broome on the remote Dampier peninsula of north-western WA and just 20minutes from the spectacular Cape Leveque is Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. It has been operating since 1946 and is the oldest family run pearl farm in Australia. It really is a stunning setting; the earth is a vibrant rusty red, the sand is a pearly white (pardon the pun!) and the sea is a brilliant aqua blue..... paradise i hear you thinking, well yes it is but there is one drawback, i came here to work and seriously, it is not easy.
The pearling industry spread along the coast of western Australia in the 1880's after pearls were discovered in the shells of the Oyster in a place called Shark bay, south of Broome. By 1910 more that 400 pearl luggers and 3500 people were fishing for these pearls around Broome making it the biggest pearling centre in the world at this time. Mainly Japanese, their methods and safety standards were appalling; most would down a bottle of port before spending hours leaded to the ocean bed collecting as many pearl shells as they could (they were paid by the shell!). The three main causes of death among the divers were sharks, the bends and cyclones..... needless to say it was a very dangerous job. During the first world war the industry began to decline as the demand for pearl weaned and pearl buttons were replaced by plastic. This decline continued right up post world war two, which saw Broome being bombed and most of the luggers being destroyed. Today, there are still pearl companies in operation although i the industry is a bit of a different beast. The pearls that are being produced are worth well in excess of £1000 a pop and so, as long as there are people with money, these farms will do well. Lets see how well they ride out this recession!
A day in the life of a pearl farm deckhand:
Our day starts a the ungodly hour of 5am when we all go the the 'mess' for breakfast. I can't talk at this hour and i just cannot understand that, even after knowing one particular boy for over a month now, he continues to try to get a word out of me at that time in the morning. Most have learned just to leave well alone. Work starts at 5.45am when we assemble outside the shed and are told what which boat we will be working on for the day. Initially things were not great for me and my two other female colleagues as we were basically thrown in with the boys pulling up panels (very heavy panels!), throwing them through cleaning machines and then chipping off barnacles.... no, not ladylike in the least and no, not much fun. But i am a determined soul and really if i set my mind to do something then i will absolutely not give up... infact, after a wee while actually started to enjoy my job. For me, my time in Australia was always going to be one that i was not going to waste. If not working as a professional i decided very early on that i would only commit to jobs in which i could learn a new skill or one that was impossible to do back home, McDonald's was definitely not an option for me. Well right here, right now, i am in one of the most beautiful parts of Australia; sea snakes are swimming by, turtles are ten a penny and dolphins surf over the waves next to us...... i think this beats serving someone their steak and chips.
After a wee while on the farm we came into the 'harvest' period (where the pearls are taken out of the shell) and i was given a new role. The girls, all 3 of us, were promoted to assistants to the technicians.... a much more acceptable job! So what have i learned of the life of the cultured pearl, well i'm not sure if this is absolutely correct but here's my understanding:
- Initially the baby shells are grown in a nursery in Broome
- They arrive at their respective pearl farms and are inserted into panels and then hung on 'lines' in the sea for a few months.
- They are then taken out of the water and a team will search through the panels separating the actual pearl shells from every other shell that has decided to take up home in the panel.
- The separated shells are then put in pockets within larger panels in order to grow.
- These shells are then left for 2 years to grow (although there will be constant cleaning of the shells (ie. barnacle chipping!)
- They will then be ready for their first harvest. A qualified technician (years of training) then opens each shell and makes a careful incision in the animal, without killing it, and inserts a nucleus (which the animal is fooled into thinking is a real pearl). The animal then is put back into a panel and hangs in the sea for another two years in order to grow its pearl.
- The shell is then annually taken out, the new pearl inside each one is replaced with a new nucleus and then it is put back to sea (basically the animal coats this nucleus in mother of pearl and that's how you get the pearl).
- Each shell will usually produce 3 or sometimes 4 pearls in its lifetime. When the pearl is deemed to be at the end of its life it is killed. The pearl meat is sold sometimes fresh and other times dried for the asian markets. The shells are sold to asia to make buttons etc.
........ and there's that perfect pearl!
Another advantage of working on the pearl farm was the 10day on/ 4 day off rota (although it didn't always work like that!!!). On our days off we would be back Broome, a charming little place that i grew to really really love. I must admit though i was constantly frustrated with the housing, which really could be amazingly simple in a place like this. Simple materials, simple buildings. The houses are mostly clad in tin, which is great, i love tin buildings but the design of them was generally so disappointing; most are just your average kit house which has then been clad in tin. Infact also the layout of the town annoyed me, it was certainly not designed to walk around. Besides the housing, the Broome high street is such an interesting one, built at the time the Japanese were around, it is affectionately named Chinatown as the buildings have an Asian feel to them. Unfortunately i lost my camera when i was there so i also lost all of my pictures. The beach pics below are ones of my colleague and photographer extraordinaire Ludi Lereoux.
