A whaling station at Sleaford Bay
appears to have been in operation by the 1837 season when the South Australian
Gazette and Colonial Register reported that on 1 Nov 1837 the 150 ton brig
(Captain Bell) departed from Port Adelaide for Sleaford Bay, near Port
Lincoln 'to take in a cargo of oil from the station there' and was then
intended for Hobart. The Sleaford Bay whaling station was definitely in
operation during the 1839 to 1841 season firstly as a South Australian
Company station and then as a joint venture between the South Australian
Company and Messrs John and Stephen Hack and Company.
In April 1997 a small group of staff,
honours students and volunteers from Flinders University conducted a predisturbance
survey of the archaeological material at Fishery Bay, Sleaford Bay (Bradbury
et al 1997). Kostaglou and McCarthy have previously documented the existence
of a whaling station at Sleaford Bay
(Kostoglou & McCarthy 1991:17-21).
Fishery Bay has cliffs on both the
eastern and western sides of the bay, a white sandy beach on the northern
side and is open to the south east (145 to 175 degrees). The sites are
located on the frontal dune system at the eastern end of the beach near
where a small seasonal creek flows down to the sea.
Sleaford Bay Site Structure (photo
by M. Staniforth).
Unlike Fowlers Bay, Sleaford Bay
revealed extensive archaeological evidence of the whaling station in the
form of habitation (and storage) sites and a tryworks platform (see Bradbury
et al 1997). Again the building sites were largely constructed of local
stone but in this case there is far more extensive use of brick in particular
in the form of the tryworks floor.
Flensing Platform at Sleaford Bay (photo by M. Staniforth)
Another issue which came up was
the nature and extent of the archaeological material which lay in the waters
in front of the whaling station - an underwater survey by Tim Anson and
Nathan Richards revealed a range of artefactual material including this
blue transfer print found underwater. The se artefacts indicate that the
seas may have been a convenient receptacle for unwanted rubbish or that
material may be regularly washed down by the seasonal creek.
Site conservation and management
One of the issues which arose from
the work at Sleaford Bay relates to the environmental damage which is occurring
at the site - an area of hoop iron is being washed down by and into a seasonal
creek which runs at the eastern end of the site.
Finally another site conservation
issue - the tryworks brick floor is in an area where the cliff above is
eroding down and covering part of the floor - in itself this may assist
with the preservation of this part of the site. Unfortunately at the front
of the brick floor the sea is aggressively eroding the base of the
floor which is steadily falling into the sea.
It would appear that at Sleaford
Bay like some other whaling stations on the South Australian coast two
or more different whaling operations were conducted at different times
either at the same location or at two locations for which the same name
is given. In the case of Sleaford Bay it is considered likely that only
location was used - that of Fishery
Bay and it is considered likely that the archaeological evidence
at Fishery Bay includes material from both the early (1837) and later (1839-41)
One of the issue which arises from
this work is the level of investment in the different whaling stations
- the historical evidence reveals that nearly one thousand pounds was spent
at Sleaford Bay in the 1841 season at least part of which may have been
expended on relatively expensive building works including such features
as the brick floor for the tryworks. The resulting loss of nearly three
hundred pounds was one of the contributing factors to the South Australian
Company getting out of whaling at a time (in 1841) when Hobart based whaling
stations were still making useful economic returns from whaling farther
west on the South Australian coastline (in the years 1843 to 1845).
Structure built of local rock at
the Sleaford Bay whaling station, Sleaford Bay, South Australia.
(Photo Mark Staniforth.)
on Sleaford Bay
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