“WILD MAN’S” WEALTH
PEARLING ENTERPRISE. ABORIGINAL DIVERS. On the Queensland coast there is no more interesting character than Captain Hugh Giblett, who for 17 years has reaped a harvest on the Great Barrier Reef in the form of beche-de-mer and pearl shell (reports the correspondent of the Brisbane Courier). Though a returned soldier, he is over 60 years of age. He has two homes, one at Flinders Island and another at Orchard Point, Lloyd’s Bay. This “wild man of the north,” as he calls himself, at Flinders Island is king of a community of 60 natives, and he has five pearling luggers manned by these aborigines from the mainland. They are veritable giants in stature, handsome, with regular features, different from the usual conception of a blackfellow. The dusky divers do not employ diving dresses, but bring up beche-de-mer and pearl shell from a depth of 10 fathoms, staying under water on an average from two to three minutes, but on occasions as long as three and a quarter minutes.
This season his boats already have collected £3OOO worth, and he hopes to get another £2OOO worth before the season closes.
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Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 19102, 21 November 1923, Page 10
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191“WILD MAN’S” WEALTH Southland Times, Issue 19102, 21 November 1923, Page 10
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