Batavia Coast Maritime Heritage Association in Geraldton, Western Australia | Community organisation

Batavia Coast Maritime Heritage Association

Locality: Geraldton, Western Australia

Phone: +61 427 065 060

Address: PO Box 2537 6531 Geraldton, WA, Australia

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24.01.2022 33. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES HALL ISLAND Robert Hall (1867-1949), a Melbourne ornithologist, first came to Western Australia ...in the 1890s, reporting on useful and noxious small birds for the Government. He later accompanied a Norwegian expedition to the isolated Kerguelen Island in the Southern Ocean as naturalist in 1897. In 1899, between Sept. 23rd and Nov. 8th, he returned to WA to collect bird specimens between Albany and the Abrolhos. He spent a week in Geraldton before hitching a ride on guano-miners’ Broadhurst and McNeil’s cutter WANDA. He was rather impressed by what he found: The Abrolhos are coral-islands which sea-birds haunt in abundance. A cruise through them will ensure success to the explorer. Our cutter-yacht, the ' Wanda,' sailed into an anchorage off Rat Island on the afternoon of a fine day. We immediately walked a few hundred yards along the beach to a ''rookery that contained some 2000 Sooty Terns, each of which had deposited or was depositing its single egg under a salt-bush. At least a thousand of them must have been whirling immediately above us, with many others still higher in the air. Never have I experienced such a sensation of the marvellous as when I heard that extraordinary din of bird-voices. Freshly-laid eggs were a popular delicacy back in Geraldton and Hall reported: Certain fishermen and others had been out collecting those of the first laying (Oct. 20th), for which they eagerly look out. Their visit was to a distant "rookery" (in which I had previously -wandered), and they had taken from a portion of it about eight hundred eggs, leaving some two hundred, and giving the birds the opportunity to lay again undisturbed. He noted that cats had been introduced to deal with the rats on Rat Island: The day of the vast flocks referred to by Gilbert in Gould's 'Handbook' is past [Gilbert visited in 1843]. When guano-workers cease to frequent the islands, and the introduced cats allow the lizards alone to work havoc there, the former state of affairs may return. In his report he included, along with his observations and some nesting-data, a list of 48 birds found at the Abrolhos. Two lists had been previously published one in 1890 by A. J. Campbell, a second in 1898 by R. Helms’. Hall added the Rufous Song-lark and the rarely-seen-since Red-capped Robin and Sacred Kingfisher. Hall continued his avian preoccupation, writing A Key to the Birds of Australia and Tasmania (1899) and Insectivorous Birds of Victoria (1900), and then worked (1901) at the Queensland museum. He became most famous for his year-long expedition in 1903 with R. E. (Ernie) Trebilcock to Siberia, via Japan, Korea and Manchuria, to solve the puzzle of the wading birds found in the wetlands of south-eastern Australia; they were known to migrate north to breeding colonies, but exactly where was unknown. Neither the British Museum nor any major museum in Australia or Russia had skins of the birds in their distinctive breeding colours and Hall thought they might pay handsomely for them if he could obtain them, and thus finance his expedition. It took five months to reach their goal, travelling by ship, train, horse and cart, small boat and barge from Vladivostok down the 4,500km Lena River, the easternmost of Siberia’s 3 great rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean, Hall shooting the birds and Trebilcock preparing the skins, taking photographs and writing a diary. The cold, the mud and the mosquitoes made for a difficult journey: [The mosquitoes] settle on the gun barrel so thickly that you can't see the sight, wrote Trebilcock. They finally located a breeding ground of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper on an island at the mouth of the Lena River. Hall’s expedition confirmed that the waders, many weighing as little as 30-40 grams, make the 25,000 kilometre return journey each year. The predicable rich food supplies of the northern hemisphere’s short summers make these a preferred breeding location, rather than the irregular seasons of Australian wetlands. Trebilcock remarked on the breeding plumage: The plainest of the wading birds as we see them are now (in Siberia) very beautiful. Australia does not know them in their summer dress of the northern hemisphere. On his return journey home via England, Hall sold his collection of 402 Manchurian and Siberian specimens of 90 species to the Rothschild Museum. Back in Australia with their exotic stories about both birds and people, both Trebilcock and Hall gave entertaining lectures, illustrated with lantern slides. Some of Trebilcock’s images can be seen online at the State Library of Victoria. Hall was impressed by what he had seen in overseas museums and became an influential advocate of nature study in schools, writing that Nature is the true foundation of the finest education'. In 1908 he became curator of the Tasmanian Museum and Botanical Gardens, and later an orchardist south of Hobart, promoting various short-lived, eccentric schemes including possum-farming. He continued as a prolific writer for nature journals and published Australian Bird Maps in 1922, adding to his contribution as a foundation member and president of the RAOU, member of the Zoological Society of London (1903), a fellow of the Linnaean Society (1903) and a colonial member of the British Ornithologists' Union (1908). Parts of his private bird and egg collections are held at the Tasmanian Museum and the National Museum, Melbourne. Hall Island is a rather miniscule scrap of land on the eastern edge of the Beacon Platform, home to a few pairs of breeding Little Shearwaters and Pied Cormorants. He would be pleased to know the rats and cats have been eliminated from Rat Island and the Sooty terms are returning in their thousands, as he had hoped. This brings us to the end of that group of island names proposed in 1986 by WA Museum ornithologist Ron Johnstone: Alexander, Bynoe, Campbell, Dakin, Gibson, Gilbert, Hall, Helms, Saville-Kent, Serventy and Stokes. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected]

23.01.2022 Artists - don’t forget the Batavia Coast History is one of the prize categories!

22.01.2022 Duyfken is open to the public on Sunday 18 October. This is your last chance to go on board the ship before she departs for Sydney. Admittance by ticket only. Limited tickets available. Buy your tickets at Eventbrite NOW! https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/farewell-to-duyfken-tickets

22.01.2022 25. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES: TRIGG LUMP An interesting name that appears on some charts off the eastern tip of Wreck Point i...s TRIGG LUMP, well-known to fishermen. Nearby on Pelsaert Island many reports of the 1930s also mention Trigg’s Hut (and that is shown on maps too unfortunately Murphy’s Law has decided that I can’t find one just when I want to use it!). WaIter Trigg was the Geraldton Manager for Winter Brant and Co., a large firm with deep sea fishing fleets and market outlets in the city and goldfields. His father William Trigg built many of the early public and private buildings in the Geraldton district, including the first school in 1861, a little stone building in Marine Terrace, now the Missions to Seamen. In 1929 an ‘Abrolhos Board of Control’ was formed with the idea of promoting the Abrolhos as a tourist destination and Walter was elected Secretary. The Board worked hard but had little success in its endeavours, and its attempts to raise funding by placing a levy on crayfish proved a failure, the fishermen proving uncooperative and refusing to pay. The sea crossing, then as now, also proved a deterrent to many would-be holiday-makers. In February 1931, Trigg was given permission to erect a 'little shelter and tanks to conserve water during the coming winter' on Pelsaert Island. It was located where the land had been cleared by guano miners in the late 1800s near the southern tip, a blustery place with the deafening thunder of breakers on Half-Moon Reef in winter or the screeching of the millions of terns that nested nearby in early summer. Trigg’s Hut of corrugated iron with six bunks, described by Malcolm Uren as standing 'lonely and gaunt, like a monolith on a parched flat', provided a refuge for visiting fishing parties, often groups of men then as now heading out for a few days. Transport to and from Pelsaert Island was provided by Frank Burton's fishing lugger the WATER WITCH with the little yacht LILY owned by Bill Burton (Frank's son) as a tender to get ashore. One group that used the hut was the naturalist Vincent Serventy who with photographer Axel Poignant and journalist Norman Hall visited over Christmas in 1939/40 and 40/41; the latter two shown here inside Trigg’s Hut. Poignant took one of my favourite photographs of a young osprey and in his later career it featured in his exhibitions around the world. We will hear more of Vincent Serventy and his siblings next time. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected]

21.01.2022 26. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES: SERVENTY ISLAND In 1986 WA Museum ornithologists Glen Storr, Ron Johnstone and Philip Griffin c...ompleted a comprehensive survey of the birds of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. Many of the islands they visited did not have official names, so they sought approval from the Lands and Survey Department to name eleven of them in honour of the ‘naturalists’ W. B. Alexander, B. Bynoe, A.J. Campbell, W.J. Dakin, C.G. Gibson, J. Gilbert, R. Hall, R. Helms, W. Saville-Kent, D. L. and V.N. Serventy and J.L. Stokes. We have already looked at the contributions of Stokes and Bynoe, so the stories behind the others beckon. In the last post [25] looking at ‘Trigg Lump’ we noted the visit of Vincent Serventy to Trigg’s Hut on Pelsaert Island in 1940/41, but he was not the first of his family to do so. His older brother Dominic, at age 20, and his sister Lucia were founding members of the WA Naturalist Club in 1924 and they organised a club birding expedition to the Abrolhos in 1930, basing themselves at Trigg’s Pelsaert Island hut. Dom’s later work with CSIRO’s Division of Fisheries and time at sea led to him becoming an expert on seabirds and famous for solving the mystery of the shearwaters (mutton birds) that disappeared each year after breeding on Bass Strait Islands. Patsy Adam-Smith in her book ‘There was a Ship wrote that he had slept among the grass tussocks with the sky for a roof, on lonely, uninhabited Bass Strait islands, walked hundreds of kilometres over rock peaks, and pushed through scrub where two metre tiger snakes curled.. Dom banded tens of thousands of birds, enabling them to be tracked on their migration to the North Atlantic and back. ‘The Flight of the Shearwater’ by Vincent tells much of this story. Dom visited the Abrolhos again in 1943, and with H.M. Whittell wrote the ‘Handbook of Birds of Western Australia’, a key reference for decades. Later, with brother Vincent and John Warham he wrote the definitive ‘Handbook of Australian Seabirds’. Vincent Serventy, after two visits in 1940/41 and 41/42 and working for CSIRO and as a teacher, returned to the Abrolhos in the early 1950s. In his autobiography ‘An Australian Life’ he explains it thus: Passed over for a lectureship at Teachers Training college I knew I deserved in the early 1950s, I resigned in fury, throwing off the dust of an ungrateful education department. For five years I wandered the world living by writing; spending a year in Europe, studying seabirds on an island in the Abrolhos, .. The Abrolhos! How that word rings in my ears. It brings back only the happiest memories. One of the best times of my life I spent as a scientific beachcomber on these low islands of sand and limestone. I stayed on the Abrolhos for six months, earning no pay and living in a tourist camp on Pelsaert Island. My duties were light. If the visitors could not fish I took them reef walking or birdwatching and in the afternoon I speared fish for a barbeque. The rest of my time was free for studying seabirds and marine life. It was an idyllic existence. In 1956 Vincent bought a movie camera and began making documentary films which later led to Australia's first television environment program, Nature Walkabout (1967). On ABC radio’s ‘The Argonauts’ program he was ‘Tom the Naturalist’ for a while, a program I grew up with in the days before television. I have his ‘Australia’s Wildlife Heritage’ magazine series and indeed met him a few times at NSW Nature Conservation Council meetings in the 70s. He published more than 70 books and contributed passionately to numerous organisations with a natural history or environmental focus. As a leading figure in many conservation battles in Australia, Vincent has justly been called the ‘father of conservation in Australia’. His archives in the National Library amount to 440 boxes! Siblings Lucia and John Serventy and Vincent’s wife Carol were also significant contributors to nature conservation causes, particularly with the WA Naturalists Club. Dominic would be pleased to know that the island named Serventy Island has breeding colonies of Bridled Terns and Sooty Terns, and nests of White Breasted Sea Eagles, Caspian Terns and Pacific Gulls, with many other visiting seabird species. It has also been the subject of quite a deal of geological study, providing clues to the genesis of the coral rubble islands, with some of its ridges of coral shingle dating back to over 5,500 years. It is most fitting that a Houtman’s Abrolhos’ island bears the name ‘Serventy’. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected]

20.01.2022 29. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES: SAVILLE-KENT ISLAND William Saville-Kent was born on 10 July 1845 at Sidmouth, Devon, England, ...the youngest of ten children of Samuel Savill Kent, sub-inspector of factories, and his first wife Mary Ann. His mother died when he was just seven. His father married the children’s nanny, with whom he had been having an affair during his wife’s illness, and three more children were born. William was educated in boarding schools at Bath, Worcester and Gloucester. Just before William’s 20th birthday, his toddler half-brother disappeared from his bed in the middle of the night. A search eventually found his body dumped in a disused latrine, his throat cut. His nursemaid was arrested and then released. William’s 16-year-old sister Constance was detained, but she too was released. William studied at the University of London and at the Royal School of Mines under the famous T. H. Huxley, and from 1868 worked at the British Museum. In 1870 he received a grant from the Royal Society to conduct a dredging survey off Portugal. Five years after the murder of the child Constance confessed to the crime. William was suspected as an accomplice, but no charges were ever laid. Constance was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Many thought the confession doubtful. When Saville-Kent’s first wife died and he married again, he added an ‘e’ to Savill, and later hyphenated the two, perhaps to distance himself from the family dishonour. Public aquaria were being constructed in a number of British cities and William became resident naturalist at the Brighton Aquarium, and later at several others before returning to Brighton. His ambition was to establish a national marine research laboratory. While at the Brighton he witnessed a lobster lay eggs and charted the growth and development of the offspring and he aimed to see lobster and other species farmed. His comprehensive 3-volume work Manual of the Infusoria [Protozoa] came out in 1880-82. Following work at the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883, Huxley recommended him to the Tasmanian government to restore badly depleted oyster beds and he was appointed superintendent and inspector of fisheries, introducing many management measures to ensure sustainability across all fisheries. From 1889-92 he was Commissioner of Fisheries for Queensland and developed a particular fascination with the Great Barrier Reef and in pearl oyster fisheries, fish, bêche-de-mer, corals, sponges, dugong and turtles. He was a pioneer, like Archibald Campbell we told of last time, of photography as a recording device. His magnificent book, The Great Barrier Reef, was published in 1893, with 49 photographs and 16 beautiful colour lithographs created by artists from Saville-Kent’s original watercolour sketches. As Commissioner of Fisheries for Western Australia, from 1893 to 1895, he undertook scientific surveys of the Colony’s fish stocks and looked into fisheries laws, the economics of the industry and the marketing of the catch. He visited the Abrolhos twice and was fascinated by nearly every aspect, so much so that he devoted a whole chapter of his 1897 book, The Naturalist in Australia, to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. He was intrigued by the tropical marine life present and had synchronised temperature measurements taken at the Abrolhos and the mainland. He introduced pairs of shells brought from Shark Bay to the Pelsaert lagoon to begin a pearling industry, the shells surviving for some years before lost. Back in England from 1896 to 1904, he endeavoured to gain support for a pearl culture experiment. In 1906 he began to culture pearls in the Torres Strait. He is acknowledged as the first to succeed in producing both blister and spherical pearls of commercial quality, pioneering pearl culture, later patented by Dr. Tokichi Nishikawa of Japan, who had heard of Saville-Kent's techniques. In mid-1908 he returned to England suffering a bowel obstruction and following surgery, died on 11 October. His grave in All Saints' churchyard, Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, was decorated with corals, which now, since the churchyard has been redeveloped, I understand are in a local museum. There are numerous specimens collected by Saville-Kent in the British Museum of Natural History. As the most important 1800s figure in Australian fisheries, one of the first professional fisheries scientists in Australia, and given his fascination with the Abrolhos, it is fitting that Saville-Kent Island at Morning Reef in the Wallabi Group is named in his honour, perhaps its small size countered by its heart-shape. A research facility opened at Rat Island in 2003 to support operational and research capabilities by the Fisheries Department and other agencies was named the Saville-Kent Research Facility, acknowledging his recognition of the opportunities the Abrolhos presented for systematic scientific investigation. Given Saville-Kent’s perception that the Abrolhos waters were suited to pearl oysters and his invention of the pearl-seeding technique, disrupted by his early death, he would be pleased to see pearl-farming thriving at the Abrolhos today. I can highly recommend the book ‘Savant of the Australian Seas’ by A.J. Harrison (there was an extended online version but I could not trace it in recent searches). And a happy ending: In 1886, following her release from prison, William met his sister Constance in England and took her to Tasmania. She adopted the name 'Ruth Emilie Kaye' and, after accompanying her brother to Victoria and Queensland, trained as a nurse at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, moving to Perth and finally NSW. She was appointed sister-in-charge at the Coast Hospital, Little Bay. From 1898 to 1909, she worked at the Parramatta Industrial School for Girls and later matron of the Pierce Memorial Nurses' Home at East Maitland, from 1911 until she retired in 1932. She was a capable nurse and administrator, well-liked and highly respected for her work. She died in 1944 in Sydney aged 100. Her story has featured in much literature and other media. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected]

20.01.2022 Sunday, 30th of August 2020 11am 1pm 3pm... PUBLIC SAILING Looking for new crew members to keep the boat . All welcome. By donation.

20.01.2022 BCMHA are delighted to again be sponsoring a prize for a Batavia Coast maritime themed art piece! Good luck to all artists!

18.01.2022 31. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES DAKIN ISLAND The name Dakin Island acknowledges another eminent biologist, in fact the first Pro...fessor of Biology at the University of Western Australia, William Dakin. English-born Dakin took up the appointment in 1913 after degrees at Liverpool and studying oceanography in Germany, Italy and Ireland. Almost immediately after his arrival, perhaps taking up Saville-Kent’s 1897comments that these Abrolhos reefs will constitute one of the happiest and most productive hunting grounds and fields for biological investigation, Dakin acquired funding from the Percy Sladen Trust (established to honour a prominent starfish biologist) for an expedition to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands. In November 1913, with Wilfred Alexander of the Perth Museum, he spent 3 windy weeks aboard the fishing boat QUEEN, collecting and making biological and geological observations on land and in the sea. A second Percy Sladen Trust Expedition in October 1915 chartered the fishing lugger 'Ada' and four weeks were spent amongst the islands, a great deal of it in dredging. The collections of vertebrates, sponges, echinoderms, polychaete worms, crabs, sea-slugs, isopods (sea lice) and other groups were sent to experts around the world and the first comprehensive reports and scientific papers about the Abrolhos were produced. Dakin’s conclusions regarding the formation of the islands and the ecology have mostly stood the test of time. Dakin took up the ‘Derby Chair of Zoology’ at Liverpool in 1920 (a position linked incidentally to the Earl of Derby who had the specimens from the Abrolhos collected by Gilbert). He returned to Australia as Professor of Zoology at the University of Sydney in 1929 continuing an incredibly active and productive career. He published zoology textbooks (1918 and 1927) and a history of whaling in Australia in Whalemen Adventurers (1934), but it was marine biology that engrossed Dakin. He published the pioneering Plankton of the Australian Coastal Waters off New South Wales (1940) and investigated the life cycle of commercial prawns. During World War II he became technical director of camouflage - an important tactic in warfare - for the Ministry of Home Security, developing camouflage specific to Australian conditions. His publication Art of Camouflage (1941) drew heavily on his observations of camouflage in marine life. The fisheries laboratory of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research at Cronulla was partly his creation. He was a trustee of the Australian Museum, Sydney, president of the Royal Zoological Society and the Linnaean Society of NSW, constructed syllabuses in general biology and zoology for high schools, and presented 'Science in the News', for the ABC. Dakin received world-wide recognition and many honours for his teaching and achievements. Many marine enthusiasts would remember his book Australian Seashores, completed after his death in 1950 by his two long-term assistants Isobel Bennett and Elizabeth Pope. It was a fitting epitaph for, as he wrote, for over thirty years the study of the Australian seashores and seas has been my life work. The naming of an island in the Abrolhos is a fitting tribute for it was there that much of his enthusiasm and passion began. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected] Can I suggest you investigate these opportunities to visit the Abrolhos on which I have the privilege of being your guide! 5-day ECOABROLHOS Discovery Tours (the ones marked with an asterisk* 4 of these in Sept/Oct 2020): https://www.ecoabrolhos.com.au/cruise-calendars/

18.01.2022 Today's the day!

15.01.2022 Goodness Festival - check out the program - The Deep Sea Diving in WA looks like it will be a really good one to catch - along with the others!

14.01.2022 This is a great lead-in to a series I am starting with Glenn Barndon on ABC Midwest Local Radio each Wednesday morning: 'Sea Stories of the Batavia Coast'. Howard Gray

11.01.2022 Opportunity not to be missed

10.01.2022 Great work! Look forward to Entries with a Batavia Coast maritime heritage theme! $250 prize in that category!

09.01.2022 See you just never know when inspiration will hit!!

09.01.2022 The "Balayi-Open Your Eyes" Houtman 400 commemorations are pretty much done and dusted - the final touches in place so there is a lasting reminder of this phase of our collective human history. As Houtman and Dedel in July 1619 sat off the coast near Rockingham, hoping to get ashore, it is appropriate that the commemorative plinth be placed ashore there, at the western end of St Ives Cove, Warnbro. Houtman and Dedel's encounter with the southwest coast and following it northw...ard gave the first solid evidence that the discoveries of Hartog to the north were part of a much larger continent - the much anticipated Terra Australis Incognita. A matching plinth and plaque is in Batavia Park Geraldton. A great job by the BCMHA and all who contributed to the end result, from designers, metal workers, stonemasons, and so many more! And to the City of Rockingham for the funding that made possible the commemorative activities and structure at this southern point of encounter, a final touch to the Houtman400 commemorations. See more

09.01.2022 AGM Friday, 20th of November at 5:30pm 4 Cypress Street, Rangeway - Geraldton.... All welcome. See you there.

08.01.2022 Join me for "Sea Stories from the Batavia Coast" with Glen Barndon on ABC Radio MidWest and Wheatbelt sometime between 10.30 and 11am: today's episode the tale ...of an American whaler at the Abrolhos in 1858. If you are out of the listening area try the web: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/wheatbelt/live/

07.01.2022 Paul Lucas’ brilliant paintings on display at Northgate Geraldton today - new originals of Abrolhos local scenes and terrific prints. (The prices are very reasonable too) Please share!

07.01.2022 Terrific to be a sponsor of the heritage category again!

07.01.2022 30. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES HELMS ISLAND The name Helms Island acknowledges another quite remarkable character who visited t...he Abrolhos in the late 1800s, leaving us with accurate descriptions and some perceptive insights. Richard Helms arrived in Melbourne from Germany as a 16-year-old in 1858, beginning a diversified career working as a tobacconist, then in New Zealand as a dentist and later watchmaker and self-taught zoologist, avidly collecting insects and shells many of which are named after him. In 1888 he became a collector for the Australian Museum and in 1891 was appointed naturalist to the east-west ‘Elder Expedition’, a party of 8 white men and 5 Afghans with 44 camels which started from Warrina, South Australia, in May and with great difficulty crossed the Great Victoria Desert to Fraser’s range, surviving with almost no water for the men and none for the camels for a month. At Annean Station near Meekatharra in the Murchison, Helms and the other men resigned, basically because the expedition was not exploring new country but traveling too closely to known routes. They walked to Geraldton, 300 miles on foot over a fortnight. The results of the expedition were disappointing, but Helms made important collections of fauna and 800 plant specimens and wrote a paper on anthropology. The collections made by Helms were the chief source of knowledge of the fauna of the dry interior regions of WA at the time and added considerably to knowledge of the flora. In 1896-99 he was appointed biologist to the WA Dept. of Agriculture. He wrote papers on his studies of the honey-bee, ticks and other parasites, noxious weeds, plant diseases, exotic birds and on his excursions to the East Kimberley and the Abrolhos Islands. It was the latter that has provided us with a comprehensive account of the Abrolhos from the period. While William Saville-Kent had been focussed on the marine aspects, Helms described the landscapes, flora and fauna, listed 39 species of bird with much detail of their behaviour and gave a good account of the guano mining operations: A Visit to the Abrolhos Islands [‘West Australian’ 4 December 1897]: Mr. R. Helms, the biologist to the Bureau of Agriculture, who recently spent a little over a week on the Abrolhos Islands, as the guest of Mr. Broadhurst, has returned to the city. He reports that the group of islands is a very interesting one, and the guano obtained on them of a high value, some of it containing over 70 per cent, of phosphates, while none that contained under 50 per cent, was exported. At present, Mr. Helms states, the proprietor are working the deposits on Gun Island, as the best of the deposits, for which they have numerous orders, are situate on that island. Large quantities, he adds, are being shipped to Germany, Africa, and New Zealand. This guano, he thinks, is probably the best phosphatic guano known, being rich in phosphates, and in that respect differing from the Peruvian article. Mr. Helms explains that the guano is loaded at the wharves on the islands into small cutters drawing only five or six feet of water, and then transferred to the trading vessels lying, safely at anchor between the reefs and the islands. In the concluding remarks to his report of his visit Helms wrote: An area in every respect suited to and offering the greatest opportunities for comprehensive biological studies, situated a short distance from the shore of the mainland and to be reached from Perth, with existing means of conveyance, in 86 hours, should be more frequently visited by students of nature than at present is the case. When our adopted country has advanced to the stage when her education becomes an obligatory duty of the State, I have no doubt that much material for investigation will be furnished by these islands and their surrounding seas and reefs, and it may then be that one of them will be chosen for a biological station, as probably few spots on the surface of the globe would be better suited for such a purpose. Helms returned to New South Wales in 1900, changing his speciality again to work as a bacteriologist in the Department of Mines and Agriculture, publishing many papers in the Agricultural Gazette and other journals. He retired in 1908 and worked on his extensive collections and made further excursions. On a visit to the Solomon Islands he caught a chill and died in Sydney in 1914. The State Library of NSW has an extensive collection of his papers and journals and the specimens he collected are in most museums around the country. His collection of bird’s eggs is in the WA Museum. As one of the most versatile and diligent natural scientists in Australia, it is fitting that Helms Island bears his name. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected] Can I suggest you investigate these opportunities to visit the Abrolhos on which I have the privilege of being your guide! 5-day ECOABROLHOS Discovery Tours (the ones marked with an asterisk* 4 of these in Sept/Oct 2020): https://www.ecoabrolhos.com.au/cruise-calendars/ 1-day ABROLHOS ADVENTURE cruise 23 August: https://www.abrolhosadventures.com.au/

06.01.2022 Paul Lucas is all set up and ready for his ‘pop up’ art exhibition - one day only (tomorrow...9-5) Northgate, Geraldton. Love to see you there! Event details:... https://www.facebook.com/events/807862466696165 http://paullucasart.com.au

05.01.2022 28. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES: CAMPBELL ISLAND Archibald James Campbell, born 1853, died 1929, was a Customs Officer with the ...Victorian and after Federation Australian Government. It would seem an unlikely situation from which to ultimately have an island on the other side of the continent named in honour of your contributions to ornithology. From an early age Archibald was passionate about egg-collecting and he was further inspired by John Gould’s magnificent illustrations and details of Australian birds. In pursuit of eggs and to observe and learn about birds he travelled throughout Australia, including to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands in December 1889, inspired by the accounts of Gilbert from 1843. He spent three weeks on Rat and Pelsaert Islands, assisted by Mr Beddoes, manager of the guano works, who also took a keen interest in the bird life. Campbell was overwhelmed by the scene on Rat Island, writing Words fail, utterly fail, to even convey an idea of the marvellous scene: Why, the whole place is actually alive with birds, some breeding on every bush, some breeding under the bushes, and some breeding beneath the bushes underground. Words fail, utterly fail, to convey a simple idea of the marvellous scene. The birds are perfectly fearless of our presence. We make our way between the dark-coated noddy terns, which cover the saltbushes as well as the ground in all directions, making defiant bark like notes. Others just move out of the way with croaking sounds, exposing their single egg on a secure platform nest of seaweeds. Prolonged guttural screams issue from underneath the bushes from sooty terns, likewise sitting upon a single egg, but on the bare ground the enraged mates flying about our heads, fill the air with squeaking notes of anger, and me being rude enough to strike our bats, while higher still overhead is a cloud of sooties bachelors probably- calling "wideawake" everywhere. The term wide awake as applied to these birds is a sailor's name. In conducting practical investigations in such a fascinating field of natural history, there is just one drawback to contend with, namely, the showers of live guano that fall from the clouds of birds above. Locomotion over the ground is rendered extremely insecure, owing to its honey-combed nature caused by countless burrows of petrels, or so-called mutton birds. Frequently, placing your feet upon apparently solid ground, down you sink to the knees in the dry, loose earth, which runs into your boots like water, so when you return to the [guano] station you are a pretty sight, head covered with new guano, boots filled with ancient guano. [‘Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds’ p 845] His made a rough calculation of the numbers: Rat Island contains approximately 350 acres; deducting 50 acres for the station and cleared portions, and talking the lowest estimate of one bird for every square yard, the total would be 1,452,000 birds for this island alone." Thirty years later the combined effects of guano mining and egg collecting (for food) had reduced this number to zero or nearly so. Campbell was a pioneer bird photographer and took what are possibly the first photographs of the birdlife on the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, as shown below. Some of his photographs and the eggs he collected at the Abrolhos are among the thousands he donated to and which are still held by Museums Victoria, evidence of his indefatigable passion for ornithology and nature in general. He was a founder of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1901 and served as its President in 1909 and 1928 and for many years editor and co-editor of the Union's journal, The Emu. He was also a founder of the Bird Observers Club in 1905 and active in the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria from its inception in 1880, leading pioneering expeditions and also writing for their journal. Campbell’s research, travels and collections were brought together in his classic field guide to oology in Australia: Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, published in 1900 in an edition of 600 copies (one of which I am lucky enough to own, with its many references to the Abrolhos). In over 1100 pages he details not only the nests and eggs of 765 Australian birds but waxes lyrical about their behaviour and other details, as quoted above. The eggs of all species are illustrated with coloured plates. In the early decades of last century, when collecting birds’ eggs was a prevalent pastime, it was a popular tome. An interesting side-note is that with the advent of Federation in 1901, Campbell, who was also intensely interested in Australia’s flora, began campaigning for a wattle to become the national floral emblem, given there are over 1000 species. A 'national' Wattle Day was celebrated in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in September 1910 and two years later the wattle was incorporated into Australia’s Coat of Arms. The official proclamation of the Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha as Australia’s floral emblem did not occur until the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in 1988. Campbell received international recognition, including being invited to be a Colonial Member of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1902 and an Honorary Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1904. These were great honours in ornithological circles. No doubt he would also have been chuffed to know one of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands is named after him, for as he wrote after a day roaming Pelsaert Island, finding nesting roseate terns (giving him a first in collecting their eggs), and boarding the UNA for the sail back to Geraldton: So ended my last day on that romantic collecting field Houtman’s Abrolhos truly a wonderland for breeding sea-birds.

05.01.2022 Outgoing Chairman of the Association, Bob Urquhart with his wife Julie during the 50th anniversary celebrations of the discovery of the Batavia in June 2013

05.01.2022 Reminder to all members - BCMHA Annual General Meeting 5.30 for 6.00pm Wednesday 2nd September at the Geraldton Club, Marine Terrace. New members very welcome - email [email protected] for membership forms ($10p.a.) and join in promoting and celebrating our rich maritime heritage!!

04.01.2022 Hi Friends - Some of you were catching my "Sea Stories from the Batavia Coast" on ABC MidWest and Wheatbelt local radio (8.28) last year. Well they are about t...o start up again - some time between 10.30 and 11am on Wednesday mornings (and available for about a week afterwards by a link on their website I think). We are kicking off with a story about Otto. There's a clue in the pic attached. Howard (With a little Pink Floyd tune ... Marrooned) See more

04.01.2022 When our Marine Pilots have finished an outbound shipping movement from the Port of Geraldton, they have to disembark by climbing down a wooden ladder and back ...on to our Pilot Boat. Our Marine Pilots do this both day and night, and sometimes in challenging conditions depending on the weather and swell. Take a look at this short clip taken in 2014 to show just how our Pilot Boat crew and Marine Pilots work together to complete this safely.

02.01.2022 Stuart Gore, 1905-1984, was a passionate photographer. Early in his career he operated Perth's first same day photo developing business in Market St, Fremantle.... With the outbreak of World War II, Stuart enlisted in the RAAF joining the Aerial Reconnaissance Unit based in Darwin. Many of his photographs from that time are treasures of the State Library of WA. These extraordinary photos were taken at the No 1 Spotting WT Post on East Wallabi Island in the Abrolhos. The island also served as an air strip for training exercises during the war. Take a moment to appreciate this intimate insight into day to day life at the Spotting Post. For more fascinating WA stories and images, follow the State Library on Facebook. Abrolhos landing operation [picture] Gore, Stuart, 1905-1984. Photograph | 1942. Available at Online (023145PD) Royal Australian Air Force Geraldton, Western Australia ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt The West Australian Australian War Memorial ABC Perth The West Australian Museum of Perthr

02.01.2022 A great introduction to the Abrolhos - that will have you wanting to go back for more!

02.01.2022 32. THE HOUTMAN ABROLHOS ISLANDS THE STORIES BEHIND THE NAMES ALEXANDER ISLAND The name Alexander Island commemorates Wilfred Backhouse Alexander (1885-1965) ...who visited the Abrolhos in 1913 as part of the Percy Sladen Trust Expeditions led by Professor Dakin. While Dakin was particularly interested in the marine life, Alexander concentrated on the terrestrial life and later wrote up the vertebrate fauna collected and collated the reports on specimens sent to specialists around the world. Alexander had a long, varied and fruitful career following training as a botanist at Cambridge. He moved to Australia in early 1912 to take up the position of Assistant at the Western Australian Museum, which he held for three years before being made Keeper of Biology at the museum. He was active in ornithological associations and wrote comprehensive histories of zoological research in Western Australia. In 1920 prickly pear was taking over vast areas of subtropical eastern Australia, at its height infesting 24million hectares of farmland). It had been introduced in 1788 by Arthur Phillip with the first fleet to start a cochineal dye industry the red carmine colouring used for dying food and fabrics and still used in food and lipstick - E120 or Natural Red 4). A Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board was formed to seek a method of control and Wilfred Alexander was appointed biologist to the Board. The project took him on visits to North and South America in search of a suitable insect control and in 1924 he was promoted to Officer-in-charge. The result of these overseas investigations was the spectacularly successful use of Cactoblastis moths as a biological control measure, On his many ocean voyages, Alexander’s interest in birds turned to the oceanic seabirds and he spent 1926 at the American Museum of Natural History preparing the pioneering field guide Birds of the Ocean: A handbook for voyagers and for dwellers at the seaside containing descriptions of all seabirds of the world, with notes on their habits and guides to their identification. He returned to England and continued a notable career in ornithology. Alexander’s contributions are deservedly acknowledged. He might be interested to know the prickly pear was introduced to the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, presumably for its fruit and hardiness in such an environment. Despite efforts over many years, it still appears on Rat Island, apprehended along with other exotics by groups such as Geraldton TAFE students studying land management. Howard Gray As usual, comments, additions and corrections are most welcome and appreciated. If you know the stories behind names of islands or features, PM or email me at [email protected] If anyone can provide information regarding the stone structure on Alexander Island as seen in the 1980s image attached that would be appreciated!

02.01.2022 Nice write-up and to see the Discovery Tours highlighted! A bucket list item for sure!

01.01.2022 Public Sailing this Sunday. 11:00am 1:00pm 3:00pm... Everybody welcome - hop on & off by donation to keep the boat afloat. End of jetty opposite the museum. See you there

01.01.2022 150 Anniversary Syndey - San Francisco steamer service. Australia Post has issued a stamp based on a watercolour by maritime artist Charles Dickson Gregory of ...the SS Wonga Wonga, the first ship to carry mail from Sydney to Honolulu, en route to San Francisco. Peter Plowman has provided a history of the service and the ship https://australiapostcollectables.com.au//the-sydney-to-sa

01.01.2022 Membership was due 01.09.2020. Sorry for being late. $20single, $30family, $15concession. BSB# 066 512, ACC# 102 703 07Membership was due 01.09.2020. Sorry for being late. $20single, $30family, $15concession. BSB# 066 512, ACC# 102 703 07