Australia's coast of coral and pearl

by Peter Lancaster Brown

The north west coast of Australia was probably the first part of that continent on which the mariners of the ancient world set foot. From time to time intriguing snippets of evidence come to light which indicate that voyagers from early Middle Eastern civilisations made landfalls in north west Australia long before the Dutch official discovery in 1606.
When the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia was wrecked in the coral shoals of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands in 1629, there was enacted one of the greatest sea dramas of all time, many Dutch Indiamen were to follow her fate along the unknown coasts of New Holland.
COAST OF CORAL AND PEARL recounts all this in episodic narrative. The author writes about his own twentieth century adventures in whaling, beachcombing and crayfishing in the Australian northwest. He weaves into his account stories about the famous and colourful historic characters that went before him; figures such as Daisy Bates who championed the Aboriginal cause, and the explorers who follows Dampier's wake. Also included are ornithologists like Thomas Carter and the pioneer pastoralists and gold prospectors.

Genres: Travel, History, Nonfiction, Australia

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Peter Lancaster Brown was born in Yorkshire in 1927, and has travelled the world, working in turn as a surveyor, geologist, miner, beachcomber, engineer, prospector, biologist and free-lance writer. He liver for a number of years in the Australian Outback and then spent a hazardous year on a remove Antarctic island.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exceeded all my expectations - not that I went in knowing much. This was a fantastically put together book from a Yorkshireman who lived for a time in Western Australia - north of Perth in the Geraldton, Carnarvon & Shark Bay areas. The book was published in 1972, and draws from the authors time from the 1950's and early 60's.

My best comparison is Ion Idriess who writes in a somewhat similar vane, writing both biographical stories, stories about those he meets and historical events. Peter Lancaster Brown writes an engaging combination of all three in this book, and most importantly he writes in a style well adapted to Australiana (hopefully that makes sense - I suppose in essence it means a relatively simple narrative).

For me, all the topics that the author wrote about were on point and interesting. The book was spilt up into three parts:

Outback Whaling which covered the author working as a labourer in the 1950s whaling company, but delved into the history and entire processing routine of the whale factory. While this was gruesome and I am against whaling, I do find the historical aspects fascinating.

Shark Bay which covered the area of Shark Bay and Carnarvon - a wide history of the discovery of Australia (really well summarised), the early days of exploration and settlement in this area, Bernier Island - one of the islands sheltering the mainland and creating the bay as a (usually) calm area; an uninhabited island which the author visited and spent some time alone exploring. Seabirds, sharks and peals were the mainstay of early industries (other than whales) and he explores their histories and contributions to society. Finally in this chapter he describes the Aboriginal people and some of their local history (including their often despicable treatment by the colonisers), with a compassionate view that I consider would not have been found with the majority Australians of that era.

Geraldton and the Abrolhos Islands which discusses the history of Geraldton and the Murchison - early explorations and settlement, the islands of Abrolhos, where the key story revolves around the wreck of the Batavia. I wish I had read this book earlier as this time last year I read Batavia's Graveyard - The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny, which added a huge depth to what Peter Lancaster Brown writes here. The author does a great job of his own research and figuring out a lot of the detail of this gruesome affair where mutineers turned murderers to cover up their terrible behaviours, specifically where the wreck actually occurred. Crayfish, a local primary catch feature heavily in this section too, as this was another industry that the author worked in. Lastly a piece about the many other shipwrecks in the area and a story about illegal gold smuggling.

So all in all, these subtopics were all well within my interest range, and this book really worked for me.

5 stars. Recommended if these types of stories sound interesting to you!

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1972, this book is partly about the author's experiences in Western Australia in the 1950s while working at a whaling station near Carnarvon, a rock lobster fishery in the Abrolhos Islands and in the gold mining region of Murchison. It also explores some of the history of these locations, the natural resources, flora and fauna, the knowledge and customs of the aboriginal peoples, and in passing, the culture of the local Aussie population.

I found this a very interesting combination of personal memoir and local history - well written and thoroughly engaging.

[albie_of_nonfic · Rating 3 out of 5]

A combined travelogue and memoir written by an Englishman who travelled and worked in northern Western Australia (the Ashburton - Gascoyne - Murchison region) between the 1950s and 1970s. It also includes history, development, exploration, whaling, indigenous affairs, etc. Some of it may sound somewhat un-PC in the current era (it was first published in 1972), but the author clearly had a liking and feeling for the places he writes about.