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Broome, a pearl of a town

Pearl Luggers – The Sea. The Men. The Legend

“Tripod on starboard bow,” yelled the lady with the ginger hair.

“I don’t think three whales is called a tripod, my dear,” sniffed her companion.

No matter, the humpback whales were there, thrusting their huge bodies out of the water, flippers extended, and then crashing sideways with a spectacular splash.

In July each year, the whales have reached their breeding grounds off Australia’s north west coast, where they rest a while with their new-born before beginning a 5000km return journey south to the cool Southern Ocean and the rich feeding grounds of Antarctica.

We are sailing out from Broome off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia with Sentosa Charters, a fishing and whale watching operation under the guidance today of Rob, the boat’s Dutch skipper.

The boat has a mixed group of guests on board dominated by the “Grey Nomads”, the cash-rich retirees who follow their own winter migration path to the Kimberley from the cooler southern states of Australia.

Daytime temperatures in July and August hover around 30 degrees, and although its cooler at night, nothing deters the march of the Grey Nomads, many of whom drive huge distances across Australia to spend weeks at a time in Broome and the Kimberley.

The Mercure Hotel Broome, on the edge of Roebuck Bay, recently opened the doors to a new wing with 70 extra rooms and has had no trouble filling them every night.

Mercure Hotel general manager Tina Broadhurst loves the Kimberley region and it shows in the attention she gives her guests. “I absolutely love looking after people and where possible wowing them,” she says.

One of the experiences in Broome with a huge wow factor is the Stairway to the Moon, a natural phenomenon caused by a full moon reflecting off the exposed mudflats at Roebuck Bay at extremely low tides to create an optical illusion of a staircase reaching to the moon. It occurs March through to October.

Another not-to-be-missed experience is Sun Pictures, one of the world’s oldest open-air picture theatres. Patrons sit in deckchairs to watch the latest films, interrupted only by the occasional Virgin Blue jet landing at the nearby Broome International Airport.

Broome is all about South Sea pearls and a walk along Dampier Terrace takes a visitor into a world of luxury retail outlets where names like Paspaley, Linneys and Kailis offer pearls - some teamed with local Argyle pink diamonds and 18k Kimberley gold – ranging in price from A$600 to A$100,000.

Broome pearls adorn crown jewels around the world; the Queen wears them to State banquets and morning teas; Sharon Stone flashes them at the Oscars; and in Japan they are symbols of both achievement and enlightenment.

"The market in Europe likes a creamy, rose-coloured pearl and America likes silver white and pink. A local pearl dealer says, “The colours are not relevant, it's purely a matter of taste. I think whereas shape, luster and blemishes are clearly quality factors, size and colour is just a personal issue,” he says.

Boab Tree (left)

Before choosing that pearl ring and matching earrings, drop into the Pearl Luggers – The Sea The Men The Legend, also in Dampier Terrace, for a lively, hour-long presentation on the history of the pearling industry.

The first divers were Aborigines, lured onto the pearling boats by the promise of board and lodging, but little or no pay. Youngsters with more lungpower were especially sought after, as were pregnant women who, because of the extra oxygen in their blood, could stay under water longer.

When the shell beds close to shore were worked out, and the boats moved to deeper waters, the Japanese hard-hat divers took over the industry, becoming so proficient that by the outbreak of the Second World War more than one third of Broome’s population was Japanese.

The pearling masters, mainly well-heeled Englishmen, had a lot of faith in their Japanese divers, so much so that that they would spend their days strolling around Broome in their white tunics, white suede shoes and fancy hats.

The pearling master’s wardrobe was no match for the red dust of the Kimberley, so the tunics and shoes – sometimes as many of 17 pairs – were regularly shipped off to Singapore for cleaning.

Sheba Lane was notorious as the red light district and was the centre of the Japanese community in Broome. Among the buildings there were opium dens, brothels and mahjong palaces.

Pearling waned after the Second World War with the introduction of plastic buttons, a cheaper substitute for pearl shell, but pearl cultivation developed as a new key industry with the introduction of Japanese technology, most successfully marketed by Mikimoto Kōkichi.

The Japanese found that by inserting a piece of the lip of the oyster’s mantle tissue with a nucleus of shell into an oyster's body, the tissue formed a pearl sack. The sack produces nacre, which coats the nucleus, thus creating a pearl, a method still used today in Broome where the oysters are seeded with Mississippi mussel shell.

The oyster will spend two years in the water after the initial seeding, with nacre growing about 2mm per year. Additional seedings can continue the process, producing pearls of up to 21 mm.

The Japanese paid a high price for their time in Broome. More than 900 lost their lives in accidents during pearling operations.

There were many ways of dying as a hard-hat diver and perhaps the worst (nervous readers should look away here) was a fault on the pressure line when ascending which was so powerful that it would suck the diver’s entire body into his helmet.

Today around 700 headstones in the Japanese cemetery in Broome are inscribed with the home towns of the divers, many of whom came from Taichi in Wakayama prefecture, a town twinned with Broome since the 1980s.

Taichi, situated on the southern point of the Kii peninsula, was once a flourishing whaling community, but after losing their boats in a huge storm in 1878, Taichi’s young men left to work in Broome and Thursday Island.

To commemorate Broome’s pearling history and the part played in it by Japanese divers, every August the ‘Shinju Matsuri' (pearl festival), brings thousands of visitors to the town.

After the Second World War, when Broome was attacked by Japanese Zero fighters, the town was left with only 13 pearl luggers, out of more than 400, most having been destroyed on the orders of the Australian defence forces who feared they would fall into enemy hands and be used as an invasion armada.

Willie Creek Pearl Farm is the only pearl farm in the Kimberley region open to the public. Its extensive tours offer a unique insight into the modern cultured pearling industry, together with the opportunity to purchase pearls from its retail store.

Lugger and shell, Broome (right)

Broome’s oldest pearling lugger is the Intombi, which has been fully restored and now offers four-hour cruises along the Broome coastline. The trip ends at sunset, allowing guests to watch the impressive Kimberley coast sunset while sipping a glass of champagne and nibbling hors d’oeuvres.

Food is another important ingredient of the Broome experience and a half-day Taste of Broome tour from Kimberley Wild Expeditions serves up the multicultural heart and soul of Broome through its local delicacies.

This is a town tour with a difference: secret places, fascinating history and, especially, the freshest local produce and colourful cuisine.

The tour includes a visit to the Mango Place, 12km out of town where products home made from the annual mango harvest are sold along with soaps and sweets. Recommended are the mango and bush honey mustard salad dressing, the mango vinegar and the Rosella syrup – you add it to champagne or ice cream – made from wild hibiscus. It has a reputation for lowering blood pressure.

The Kimberley Wild tour also offer the opportunity to taste local gourmet dips, oysters, kangaroo, Aboriginal bush tucker in season, and pearl meat, which sells in Asia for A$400 per kilo.

Mick Low, manager of Aboriginal reserve, Minyirr Park, explains the history of Aborigines in the area and offers some philosophical advice on why his fellow Aborigines have survived on the earth or so long.

The tour ends at sunset overlooking Broome’s Cable Beach where tour owner James and his wife cook a barbecue for their guests while the local camels tours end their day on the beach.

Matso Broome

Also not to be missed is Matso’s brewery where you can choose from beers made on the premises, including Monsoonal Blonde, Hit the Toad or Stairway Cider.

Matso’s Store started life as the Union Bank of Australia, built in 1900 in Sheba Lane. The Union Bank was the first bank in Broome and was to be a vital part of the financial life of the town for over 40 years.

The building was then purchased by pearl masters Streeter and Male, and later transformed into a general store by the Matsumoto family and renamed Matso’s Store.

The store was eventually purchased by the British peer, Lord McAlpine – a man who lavished love and money on Broome - and moved to where it stands today on Hamersley Street.

Contacts:

Mercure Hotel Broome.
Weld Street, Broome

Willie Creek Pearl Farm

Intombi pearl lugger

Pearl Luggers – The Sea. The Men. The Legend.

Taste of Broome Tour
Kimberley Wild Expeditions Pty Ltd.

Artists: David Edward Conolan
www.conolanart.com.au.

• All photos by Ian Jarrett©