NORFOLK WHALERS sung by Harry Robertson

The first thing I noticed on my arrival at Norfolk Island was the number of people who lined the cliff tops, some three hundred feet high at Cascade Bay, to watch our arrival. As a penal settlement, Norfolk Island had been the scene of brutal floggings and inhumane treatment of desperate prisoners condemned for stealing a loaf of bread, or poaching a rabbit ― capital crimes no doubt! Eventually the scene of the crime was  changed by removing the prisoners to be ill-treated elsewhere, and the island was granted to the descendants of the Mutineers of the fine ship ‘Bounty‘, who had, by this time, begun to overpopulate Pitcairn Island. Like most migrants, some settled there, and some returned to Pitcairn Island.

During my visits ashore to the homes of various people on Norfolk Island, I learned that we were not the first whaling company to operate there. Later, on a visit to Ball Bay, I saw the remnants of what had been large cooking pots and various other debris. Apparently this whaling venture terminated suddenly one night when the plant caught fire and burned down. Cause of the fire ― unknown.

One night while in conversation with one of the older inhabitants, I learned of whaling expeditions by the Islanders themselves ― using rowboats and hand harpoon. He described how the whale, once harpooned, would sometimes drag the boat so far away that by the time the whale was killed and towed back to land ― the sharks had almost eaten the lot!  Were they fortunate enough to get a whale to the shore in good condition, then the Islanders would descend from the cliff tops, where they had watched their men chase and kill the whale, and each person would carry pieces of blubber, meat etc to the top of the cliff where it was cooked.

To me, the cliff top vigil was a repeat of history.

You will find the story as it was told to me, in my song ‘Norfolk Whalers’. HR

NORFOLK WHALERS

Lyrics and Music: Harry Robertson
(As performed by Marian Henderson on Harry’s 1971 LP “WHALE CHASING MEN”)

High on the cliffs of Norfolk’s green isle,
Women and children are waiting the while,
Far down below the whale boatmen row,
As after the Humpback the Norfolk men go.

Chorus
Row, my love row, and bring back to me,
The king of the ocean, the prize of the sea.

Each man in the boat strains hard at his oar,
They head for the whale, and away from the shore,
Up at the bow the harpoon man stands,
A steel-shafted harpoon clutched tight in his hands.

Chorus

Ship the oars lads, and quiet as we go,
The harpoon strikes deep, and the blood starts to flow,
Then hell’s violent furies break out on the waves,
One blow from its tail could mean watery graves.

Chorus

For hours the whale drags the boat through the sea,
And tires from its effort to break the rope free,
Exhausted at last, it floats in the sun,
Sharp lances complete what the harpoon begun.

Chorus

Back to the island, ’twill be a long row,
If darkness comes down, the lantern will glow,
For high on the cliffs the Islanders stand,
And wait for their men to return to the land.

Chorus

With backs nearly broken, and blistered hands sore,
The boatmen at last reach the isle’s rocky shore,
The joy on friends’ faces, what pleasure to see,
Their loved ones return with the prize of the sea.

Chorus

Listen to the full song here … ( click the play icon )

© Harry Robertson,
and subsequently ©1995 Mrs Rita Robertson, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
Registered with APRA/AMCOS www.apra-amcos.com.au

About Cascade Whaling Station

Before the discovery of underground oil in America (1859), most oil used for lighting ( candles and lamps ) and lubrication came from land animals and plants.

Following the British settlement at Sydney Cove, whaling began in South Pacific waters. Norfolk and later Lord Howe Island became welcome landfalls where whalers could trade and replenish stocks of water, wood and fresh food.

Many American ships visited Norfolk Island and this contact was so important that from 1887 to 1908 there was an American consulate on Norfolk.

The expertise from visiting whaling vessels together with the Pitcairner’s skillful seamanship led to the development of a locally owned and operated whaling company on Norfolk Island in 1858. This export industry made a major contribution to the Island’s cash economy in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Despite the risks, or because of the lack of financial alternatives, whaling employed more than half the community’s adult males and contributed up to 70% of the community’s earnings. This income enabled the community to pay for imported consumer goods such as sugar, flour, tea, and clothing. As competition from other whaling companies and the fledging petroleum industry increased, the viability of whaling on Norfolk Island declined. A violent storm that destroyed the shore facilities at Cascade in 1897 delivered the industry’s deathblow.

Whaling was revived in 1954, when the Byron Bay Whaling Company showed interest in operating a whaling station at Cascade. Trading as the Norfolk Island Whaling Company with an annual quota of 150 whales it commenced its successful whaling season in 1956, exploring whale meal fertiliser, and whale oil to Sydney by tanker. The company enjoyed bountiful seasons with quotas ranging form 120 whales in 1957-8 to 170 in 1960-61 but due to declining whale numbers, the station closed in 1962.

Today only a few relics remain, most notably the concrete steps and terraces with the old boiler.

Click on the YouTube to watch David Coffin’s rendition