Whaling And Sheepfarming On Campbell Island

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29827, 21 May 1962, Page 7

Whaling And Sheepfarming On Campbell Island

Early shore-based whalers at North-west Bay, Campbell Island, had a hazardous occupation. 'On one occasion when a harpooned whale overturned a whaleboat, throwing the crew into the sea. one man got the harpoon line wound round his upper arm. and was dragged under by the whale when it dived. He almost drowned before the line slackened, and he co Id get free. This incident in the early shepherding and whaling days on Campbell Island before the First World War was described by Mr I. G. Clark in a lecture on the history of the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island at an adult education seminar on the week-end. Mr Clark was officer in charge of the Campbell Island weather station in 1955. A sheep station established on Campbell Island in 1895 was the first settlement of real importance, said Mr Clark A Captain Tucker, of Gisborne, obtained a lease of the island at £l5 a year. Thousands of Merino and Lincoln sheep were introduced, and a homestead, woolshed, yards, dip and woolpress built.

Great difficulties attended the enterprise, said Mr Clark Many miles of fencing had to be built, but packhorses taken to the island were useless in the soft, peaty ground, or soon strayed, and all

fencing materials haß to be carried by the fencers. Tracks, too. had to be cut by hand through thick scrub to facilitate the movement of sheep. Bad weather could break when sheep were mustered for shearing, and they would often several times have to be turned out and remustered before the job was done. Flock numbers over the years varied between 5000 and 7500 sheep, which produced about 120 bales of wool a season, valued perhaps at £lO a bale. But in the 1920’5. with the charter of a vessel to ship the wool away costing £5OO to £6OO, the run became uneconomic, and about 1927 was abandoned. Some of the flock was shipped back to New Zealand. and some left behind. Estimates of sheep on the island were 1000 to 1500 in 1955, and 900 in 1961. As the island was a reserve administered by the Lands and Survey Department, proposals had been made that the sheep be exterminated as alien animals. This might yet be tried, although because of the terrain it would probably be impossible to exterminate them completely, said Mr Clark. Picton Whaling Party A party of whalers from Picton established a base at North-west Bay in 1907, said

Mr Clark. The party consisted of John, Harry, and Charlie Heberley, Jack, Jim, Dick, and Harry Norton —the latter was the man who was dragged under by the whale —Arthur and Chatlie Jackson, and Bill Toms. Of these men, only Mr Toms was still alive, in Picton. The men took whales about two or three miles out in the bay by • harpooning by hand from an open boat, said Mr Clark. They concentrated on getting whalebone, then valued at £l2OO a ton. The whale oil, at £lO a ton, was not worth extracting. The best season’s catch was 13 whales. The whaling, like the shepherding, was difficult, and very dangerous, said Mr Clark. Several times the men narrowly avoided being blown right out to sea in their open boat when sudden storms arose. The whaling enterprise at North-west Bay, and another established at North-east Harbour in 1911, was finally abandoned in 1916.