Whaling in Australia

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Whaling in Australia took place from colonisation in 1788. In 1979 Australia terminated whaling and committed to whale protection. The main varieties hunted were Humpback, Blue, Right and Sperm Whales.^[1]

[edit] History

Whaling was introduced by European colonisation after 1788. There is no record of Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people hunting whales.^[2]

Whale oil and baleen (whalebone) were profitable commodities, and whaling was one Australia's first major export industries - coastal whaling stations helped build Australia.^[2] Sealing and whaling contributed more to the colonial economy than land produce until the 1830s.^[3]

From colonisation the whaling industry enjoyed 70 years of commercial success, until petroleum superseded whale oil. Also, the 1850s gold rush saw workers abandon whaling for the gold fields.

In the early twentieth century agriculture and mining suppressed a return to whaling. However, Norwegian whalers took an interest in the Australian waters and the Western Australian government encouraged whaling to develop new locations along its coast.^[1]

In 1978 the Federal Government organised Sir Sydney Frost to conduct an inquiry into whaling. His report Whales and Whaling: Report of the Independent Inquiry recommended banning whaling in Australia, and in April 1979 the Fraser government endorsed it.

Since the end of whaling in Australian waters the whale population has been steadily increasing. Whale watching is an increasingly popular activity.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Suter, Keith D. (October 1982). "Australia's new whaling policy : Formulation and implementation". Marine Policy 6 (4): 287-302.
^ ^a ^b From Whaling to Sanctuary (pdf). Australian Government - Department of the Environment and Heritage. Retrieved on 2006-06-06.
^ Macintyre, Stuart. A Concise History of Australia, p. 36. ISBN 0-521-60101-0.