The Last Whale

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National Whale Day
2008-05-21 02:22:00
National Whale Day will be held on Saturday, June 14, around Australia with a celebration of parties, exhibitions, competitions and ceremonies. This year is the 30th anniversary of Australians harpooning their last whale, a female sperm whale taken in the Southern Ocean off Western Australia on November 20, 1978.The national launch will be held in Sydney featuring singer Christine Anu, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett and young anti-whaling campaigner, Skye Bortoli.In Albany, Western Australia, the site of Australia's last whaling station, Middleton Beach will have a symbolic wreath laying ceremony, a boat flotilla, face painting, a giant sand whale formation, sculptures, information stands and music. A song about whales will be launched by a young local girl.IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), the organiser of National Whale Day, says:"Australia is world renowned for its incredible coastline and for the abundance and diversity of marine wildlife. Given Au...
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Book to be Launched at Sprung Writers Festival
2008-05-19 05:06:00
The Last Whale, a true Australian story set in the 1970s about the battle for the last whaling station in the English-speaking world, will be launched at the Sprung Writers ' Festival at Albany, Western Australia, in September 2008.The book, to be published by Fremantle Press , gets inside the heads of Australia's last whalers and anti-whaling protesters as they battle across the Southern Ocean off Western Australia.The author, Chris Pash, was a reporter at the Albany Advertiser in 1977 during Greenpeace?s first direct action in Australia.Among the protesters was Canadian Bob Hunter, Greenpeace's first president. He, Australians Jonny Lewis, Tom Barber and Allen Simmons, and Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin used Zodiac inflatable boats to place themselves between harpoons and sperm whales -- human shields.The Cheynes Beach Whaling Company operated three whale chaser ships from Albany to hunt sperm whales.The book follows the lives of the whalers and the protesters until the last w...
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Blackmarket Whale Meat Stolen: Greenpeace
2008-05-16 02:20:00
Greenpeace Japan whale campaign coordinator Junichi Sato weighs 23.5 kilograms of whale meat taken by crew of the Nisshin Maru whaling ship. The contents of the box were listed as "cardboard".Whale meat from Japan's so called scientific whaling program is being taken unlawfully by crew of the whaling fleet and sold on the blackmarket, according to reports from Greenpeace.Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan whales campaign coordinator, said: "The information we have gathered indicates that the scale of the scandal is so great, it would be impossible for the ship's operating company, Kyodo Senpaku, not to know. Kyodo Senpaku is turning their back on large scale corruption and theft of taxpayers' money. What we need to know now, through a full public inquiry, is who else is profiting from the whaling program? Who else has allowed this fraud to continue?" Working from information given by former and current Kyodo Senpaku employees, Greenpeace secretly documented the offloading of smuggle...
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Great White Shark at Middleton Beach
2008-05-12 01:45:00
In 1977, anti-whaling proetsters launched Zodiacs from Middleton Beach , Albany, Western Australia. The locals told them they were crazy. The area was known for white pointer sharks who came close to shore attracted by dead sperm whales in the water waiting to be processeed.The great whites disappeared when whaling closed in 1978 and shark sighting have been rare.A 37-year-old man was attacked at Middleton Beach on Saturday by a white pointer shark.http://jondoust.blogspot.com/2008/0 5/shark-attack.html
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Save the Whales T-Shirt
2008-03-09 01:48:00
The Ying and Yang whale motif created by the Whale & Dolphin Coalition in 1977 as part of a campaign of nonviolent direct action against Australia's last whaling station in Albany, Western Australia.The whales on the t-shirt have the box noses of sperm whales, the type of whale being hunted by Australia at that time.'Close Cheynes' is a reference to the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, the last whaling company in Australia.The Whale & Dolphin Coalition brought to Australia Canadian Bob Hunter, Greenpeace's first president, to lend his expertise honed in the North Pacific against the Soviet whaling fleet ... using Zodiac inflatable boats to put people between harpoons and whales. The Whale & Dolphin Coalition later morphed into Greenpeace Australia.Classic 'Save The Whale' t-shirt created in 1977 during the campaign to close Australia's last whaling station. The t-shirt was worn, and is still owned, by Aline Charney Barber during the nonvilolent direct action campai...
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Write Inside the heads of Australia's last whalers
2008-02-26 23:56:00
Chris Pash will be discussing the techniques used to write The Last Whale when giving a paper at The Art of the Real: National Creative Non-Fiction Conference at Newcastle University May 16-18.The Art of the Real is presented by the Literature, Cinema, Culture Research Group, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle and the Hunter Write rs' Centre.The paper will discuss the paths and techniques to gift the reader with immediacy, a sense of now, of being inside the heads of real people creating history, sharing thoughts, fears, joys, wins and losses -- and to do all that with an accuracy true to the experience.The Last Whale narrative follows action recreated from memory mining through interviews, plus official documents including police witness statements, diaries and letters.The book, to be published by Fremantle Press in October 2008, is written from two viewpoints: anti-whaling activisits and whalers. The story follows a group of people as they plan and ex...
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Whale Meat Prices Fall, Whaling Costs Rise
2008-02-13 02:40:00
Japan’s whaling industry is in trouble again -- this time it’s financial.Whale meat prices fell in Japan while the cost of whaling operations in the Antarctic rose.The Institute of Cetacean Research, the body behind Japan’s whaling operations, is struggling to repay interest-free loans from the Japanese Government, according to a newspaper report.Apparently, Japan has been catching so many whales that this has increased supplies of whale meat to the market by thirty per cent. This caused a twenty per cent fall in price.At the same time the cost of whaling increased by ten per cent as the whaling fleet was expanded from five ships to six.And last year there was a fire onboard one of the ships. More cost.The Ashahi Shimbun reports: “Japan's research whaling has long been criticized from around the world as commercial whaling in disguise. Now, research whaling faces a domestic blow--stagnant sales of whale meat. A series of accidents involving whaling ships last year and disru...
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Japanese Men Want Whale Hunt
2008-02-11 00:50:00
A majority of Japanese support eating whale meat and want 'scientific' whaling operations in the Antarctic to continue, a Japanese newspaper reported.The Asahi Shimbun, a large circulation daily newspaper in Japan, said: "In a poll, 56 per cent of Japanese, mainly men, said they support eating whale meat, while 26 per cent are opposed."Around sixty-five per cent favour the continuation of Japan's research whaling operations despite strong international opposition.Support was stronger among men -- close to eighty per cent of men in their forties, fifties and sixties. Younger women were more likely to oppose whaling. The newspaper conducted a telephone survey of 2,082 people on February 2 and February 3, 2008. The Japanese whaling fleet is currently in the Antarctic hunting Minke whales with a target of more than 1,000. The Australian Government's chartered ship the Ocean Viking last week took photographs of Japan's whaling operations in the Antarctic, the first images this whali...
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First Photos of Whale being Harpooned
2008-02-07 05:52:00
The Australian Government's chartered ship the Ocean Viking took these photographs of Japan's whaling operations in the Antarctic. The Images were released today (February 7, 2008) by Australian Customs. Australia is gathering evidence for a possible legal case to try to stop Japan whaling.These are the first photographs of whaling in the Antarctic this season. The Greenpeace ship Esperanza stopped Japan's fleet from whaling for more than two weeks. The Esperanza, low on fuel, had to return to port.
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Djinda, a Star in 50
2008-02-05 02:35:00
Albany's whale DJINDA with its distinctive tail markings. Humpback whales have unique tail fluke patterns like fingerprints on a finger. Photo from IFAWFight for Fifty Day (l-r) former whaling ship master Kas Van Der Gaag, anti-whaling activisit Jonny Lewis, former whaling ship master Paddy Hart. Photo by Ken Matts.Albany, Western Australia, the site of Australia's last whaling station, has adopted a humpback whale called Djinda, an indigenous word meaning Star .The name was selected by holding a competition organised by the City of Albany to mark Fight for Fifty day in November 2007, a national protest backed by IFAW against plans by Japan to harpoon 50 humpback whales.At the Albany event on November 3, former whaling ship master Kase van der Gaag and Jonny Lewis, a Greenpeace Australia co-founder, met for the first time since they clashed in 1977. The name Djinda was submitted by City fo Albany emplyee Toni Csermelyi.Japan eventually suspended its plans to catch humpback whales b...

Low on Fuel, Greenpeace departs Antarctic
2008-01-27 01:20:00
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza, running low on fuel, has departed the Anatarctic where it has led nonviolent direct action against Japan's whaling fleet and successfuly halted whaling operations for more than two weeks.Greenpeace said the Esperanza had been on a 4,300 nautical mile chase of the fleet's factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, since spotting the vessel in the early hours of January 12."Without the factory ship, the remaining hunter vessels have been unable to operate -- bringing the entire whaling programme to a halt," it said."It is estimated that the fleet needed to catch approximately nine minke whales each day and an endangered fin whale every other day in order to reach their self-imposed quota of nearly 1,000 whales. However, the Japanese government said they would not whale while Greenpeace was with the Nisshin Maru."In a statement radioed in Japanese and English to the Nisshin Maru, Greenpeace Japan campaigner Sakyo Noda said "we believe that you are under orders fro...
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Japan Whalers Head to NZ Territory
2008-01-25 04:48:00
A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K Orion has sighted the Japan ese whaling fleet travelling towards the Ross Sea and territory for which NZ has responsibility.Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick said : "The Orion was undertaking routine surveillance against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the Southern Ocean in support of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources? inspection system."The Government is concerned that the Japanese whaling fleet is now sailing in the direction of New Zealand?s search and rescue area of responsibility."The extremely cold and hazardous conditions of the Antarctic make it one of the most dangerous and difficult regions in the world for search and rescue operations. In addition, the distance which needs to be covered to reach the area from New Zealand means that our search and rescue capacity to assist, in the event of incidents, is very limited."Last season, the Japanese whaling fleet undertook whaling in New Ze...
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Philosopher Dissects Whaling
2008-01-21 04:38:00
Thirty years ago, Australian philosopher Peter Singer argued that whaling should stop in Australia because it was cruel. His submission to Australia's Inquiry into Whales and Whaling carried weight. The judicial commissioner, Sir Sydney Frost, agreed with Singer.Australians harpooned their last whale, a sperm whale, on November 20, 1978.Singer says: "Whales cannot be humanely killed ? they are too large, and even with an explosive harpoon, it is difficult to hit the whale in the right spot. Moreover, whalers do not want to use a large amount of explosive, because that would blow the whale to pieces, while the whole point is to recover valuable oil or flesh. So harpooned whales typically die slowly and painfully."Peter Singer, now a professor of bioethics at Princeton University, hasn't changed his views on cruelty but believes Western nations put themselves in a weak position when arguing against Japan's whaling because they themselves inflict unnecessary suffering on animals.Rea...
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The Last Whale BOOK out in 2008
2008-01-21 00:34:00
The Last Whale , a creative nonfiction book about passion and dangerous ideas in the 1970s, will be published by Fremantle Press in October/November 2008 .The book gets inside the heads of Australia's last whalers and anti-whaling activisits as they battle for the lives of sperm whales in the Southern Ocean off Western Australia.The true story chronicles the events and people behind Greenpeace's first direct action in Australia.- Chris Pash -
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Chasing Whale Ships from Sea Level
2007-11-29 01:09:00
Photo Copyright Jonny Lewis. All Rights Reserved.By Chris PashThe Last Whale Jonny Lewis was drowning in the raw beauty and power of the Southern Ocean. Initially, he couldn?t speak as he looked out across King George Sound, Western Australia, to the horizon. The immensity of that body of water overwhelmed him.?We went out there?? Jonny said eventually. He couldn?t believe that thirty years ago he and his friends took an open boat south to the end of the world.This was the first look he?d had since 1977 when he launched an outboard powered inflatable from Middleton Beach, Albany, at the start a 17 hour duel with a whale ship.He turned to me and said: ?We were mad.? The sea looked like it could swallow a 16 ft Zodiac inflatable in a moment and leave no trace.I see this view every year when visiting Albany for Christmas and often think of Jonny and his friends in 1977. I expressed what I?d always thought. ?It?s not something I would ever have done,? I said. ?You guys were out there, on...
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JAPAN?S WHALING FLEET SHADOWED
2007-11-18 07:58:00
IFAW PHOTOSNovember, 18, 2007Japan ?s whaling fleet today left Shimonoseki, a western port town, to start a new season of whaling in Antarctica. The whalers intend to take more than 1000 whales over the next four months.Japan has added 50 humpback whales to the kill list this year, a species protected from commercial hunting for more than 40 years. The fleet is led by the Nisshin Maru which has been repaired since a fire that forced Japan to cut short its last Antarctic hunt.Both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Greenpeace have said they will have ships in the Antarctic this season. Greenpeace's Esperanza ship will track the whalers in Antarctic waters, shooting video footage to show the public.The mass killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary has been deemed to be unlawful according to three separate panels of international, independent legal experts, commissioned by IFAW.?The Australian Government has claimed they would ?continue to fight for the protection...
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Humpbacks: Email Campaign
2007-11-16 04:52:00
The Japanese whaling fleet is on its way to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.This Southern Hemisphere summer, for the first time in more than four decades, Japanese harpoons will be waiting for humpback whales when they reach their feeding grounds.Under so-called ?scientific? whaling, the Government of Japan?s whaling fleet aims to kill more than 1,000 whales including 50 humpbacks.Humpback whaling collapsed in 1962 due to over exploitation and was banned.IFAW, the people behind Fight for Fifty Day said today:"At the Federal Election on 24 November 2007 vote for the whales - Tell your local candidates that you want action to stop Japan?s inhumane, unlawful and unnecessary whaling program."Send an email to your candidates today and make sure that the next Government of Australia gets the message that Australians want a permanent end to whaling now."Take action today before the first whale is killed."IFAW earlier this week released a report by an international panel of legal experts...
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No Humane Way to Kill a Whale: Tim Winton
2007-11-06 07:07:00
Australian writer Tim Winton at Albany, Western Australia, the site of Australia's last whaling station. Photo by IFAW (International Fund For Animal Welfare)Novelist and ocean activist Tim Winton credits his school days in Albany during the last days of whaling as deeply influential to both his work as a writer and environmentalist. His second novel, Shallows (1984) winner of the Miles Franklin Award, deals with the confrontation between whalers and conservationists on the high seas. Tim Winton penned the following when he heard of an historic meeting between two of the main protagonists in the last days of Australian whaling. In 1977 Jonny Lewis and Kase Van Der Gaag duelled on the southern ocean, Jonny a protester in a tiny inflatable, Kase the skipper of a whale chaser. Both meet in Albany on November 3, 2007, in opposition to the resumption of whaling and the coming hunt by the Japanese fleet of humpback whales. AUSTRALIANS SAY NO TO THE RESUMPTION OF WHALINGBy Tim Winton© Cop...
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Whaling Ship Captains Defend Humpbacks
2007-11-05 07:48:00
Fight for Fifty day organised by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) at Middleton Beach, Albany, Western Australia, on November 3, 2007. Whale defenders hold placards representing 50 whales to be hunted by the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic this season. Writer Tim Winton, 1977 anti-whaling activisit Jonny Lewis and former whaling ship captain Kase Van Der Gaag at Albany, the site of Australia's last whaling station.Former foes unite to speak for humpbacks. (l-r) Kase Van Der Gaag, former whaling captain; Jonny Lewis, anti-whaling activisit from 1977; Paddy Hart, former whaling ship captain; Chris Pash. November 3, 2007By Chris Pash Thirty years ago Jonny Lewis and Kase Van Der Gaag were locked in a duel in the Southern Ocean off Western Australia. Jonny was hell-bent on saving sperm whales from explosive head harpoons. Kase, the master and harpoon gunner of the Cheynes II, wanted to lead Jonny?s five metre rubber Zodiac boat away from the other two 47 metre steel ...
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Anti-whaling activists Return to Albany
2007-10-30 00:41:00
August 28, 1977, protest at the gates of Australia's last whaling station in Albany, Western AustraliaPat Rose Farrington, who played a leading role at the whaling station protest, and Kase Van Der Gaag, former master and harpoon gunner of the Cheynes II, meeting for the first time in September 2007 in Albany.American Pat Rose and Canadian Bobbi Hunter returned to Albany thirty ears after they took direct action against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company. A reception was held for them at the City of Albany.The last whale was taken on November 20, 1978.The orginal direct action crew were honoured at a Greenpeace function in Sydney in September 2007, thirty years since Greenpeace's first campaign in Australia.Jonny Lewis, a key figure in the campaign who formed the Whale and Dolphin Coalition which morphed into Greenpeace Australia, will return to ALbany in November.-Chris Pash
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Yankee Whalers
2007-10-29 23:31:00
By Marc SonginiNo one admires the old Yankee (and other assorted ethnic) whalers like I do.If I hadn?t, I couldn?t have written the book I did. I spent seven years virtually living with them while researching and writing ?The Lost Fleet.? Many of these blubber hunters, as they were called?captains, mates, harpooners, and crewmen alike?were very great mariners and lived like heroes from Homer and overcame corresponding challenges. They had great skills in navigation and seamanship in both small boats and in large square-riggers, and courage.They had to be both accomplished mariners and whale hunters, two not necessarily allied skills. Each time a whaleboat crew lowered, it was by no means assured if the whale or his hunters would survive the day. I?ve seen whales up fairly close, both from boats and kayaks. They are huge and gentle, even polite giants?but when attacked can be very lethal opponents.Understandably, the hunt was a rather tense experience. Using ancient weapons against a...
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Whale of a Time
2007-10-29 03:24:00
Albany, the site of Australia's last whaling station, defined itself in the 1970s by the whales it hunted. The sticker above was collected by Aline Charney Barber while taking direct action against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company in 1977.Extract from the as yet unpublished book, The Last Whale :"Aline Charney noted the town used the whale to define itself. A whale of a town. A whale of a radio station. The whale was a symbol and yet they were killing the whales. They loved the image but were killing the real thing. The contradiction got to her."The locals liked the connection to whales. Whaling had been important to Albany since it was founded in 1826. Whaling ships would call in to Albany for provisions and the first local whaling was done from Middleton Beach in 1833 near where the anti-whaling protesters set up their headquarters."Love?s Bus Service, the local tour operator, ran four trips to the station each week during the whaling season. Tourists asked for the tour, the bus ...
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Then and Now: Tom 'two harpoon' Barber
2007-10-18 01:43:00
Australian Tom Barber in front of a photograph taken by Jonny Lewis in 1977 in Albany, Western Australia. The photograph, part of a Greenpeace exhibition in Sydney (Sept-Oct 2007) celebrating its 30 years in Australia, shows Tom next to a Zodiac holding a copy of the Albany Advertiser front page proclaiming "Whalers Blameless".Tom and Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin had a close call with a harpoon while taking direct action against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, Australia's last whaling operation. Tom and Jean-Paul made complaints to the police about the behaviour of the whaling ships. The complaints were rejected.Later during the same campaign, Tom and Jonny Lewis had another close call with a harpoon. Hence, Tom's nickname ... Two Harpo on.seehttp://thelastwhale.blogspot.c om/2007/09/two-harpoon-tom.html http://thelastwhale.blogspot.com/2007/09/ second-harpoon.html by Chris Pash greenpeace whaling Whales chris pash
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The 1977 Direct Action Crew
2007-10-16 07:10:00
Fernando Pereira (above)Some members of the original team who were a part of the first Greenpeace direct action in Australia gathered in Sydney in September, 2007, 30 years after the campaign against Australia's last whaling station at Albany, Western Australia.At a function to honour the Greenpeace Australia co-founders, Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) dedicated the night to the memory of Fernando Pereira, the photographer who was killed in the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.Also remembered was the late Bob Hunter (http://www.bobhunter.org/), a Greenpeace founder, who came from Canada to Australia in 1977 to lend his expertise honed in the North Pacific against the Soviet whaling fleet.Pictured left to right: Jodi Adams, the first coordinator of Greenpeace in Australia;Richard Jones, animal rights campaigner who registered Greenpeace in Australia;Steven Jones, a member of the 1977 direct action team;Tom 'two harpoon' Barber who piloted a Zodiac during the first direct acti...
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Tilting at Windmills
2007-09-25 05:02:00
This photograph was taken by Australian Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) in 1977 from a Zodiac inflatable boat miles out to sea in the Southern Ocean. It's the Cheynes II, one of three whale chaser ships hunting sperm whales out of Albany, Western Australia, at that time.Jonny and a group of activisits including Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin and Australian Tom Barber (www.tombarber.com) formed the Whale and Dolphin Coalition to take direct action against Australia's last whaling station.Jean-Paul, who financed the campaign, contacted Greenpeace, then getting world attention for its campaign against Soviet whalers in the North Pacific.Bob Hunter, Greenpeace co-founder and its first president, and Bobbi Hunter, Greenpeace's first treasurer, came to Australia to help the direct action against the last whaling station in the English-speaking world.The photograph taken during the campaign at Albany, Western Australian in August/September 1977 is included in an exhibition in Sydney ...

The Phantom Emerges from the Jungle
2007-09-18 03:11:00
By Chris PashThe Phantom , Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin, resurfaced briefly in Sydney last week. He was a key figure behind the 1977 direct action against Australia's last whaling station at Albany, Western Australia.He came to Sydney to help celebrate Greenpeace's 30th anniversary of direct action in Australia. Jean-Paul pulled together that campaign with money from his own pocket.Jean-Paul spent time with his fellow 1977 activists: Australians Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) and Tom Barber (www.tombarber.com); American Aline Charney Barber; Canadian Bobbi Hunter (Greenpeace's first treasurer and wife of Greenpeace's first president Bob Hunter); American Pat Rose Farrington.He attended a function on Friday, September 14, at Carriage Works in Sydney. All the 'co-founders' of Greenpeace Australia were honoured.Jonny Lewis dubbed Jean-Paul 'The Phantom' in 1977 because he appeared out of nowhere to fight evil, just like the comic book character.The Phantom slipped out of Australia a...
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The Return of the Whale Defenders
2007-09-17 01:59:00
(1977 photo. L-R Jonny Lewis, Pat Rose Farrington, Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin)By Chris PashSpent an exhausting week with the orginal anti-whaling activisits from Greenpeace's first Australian campaign 30 years ago.They haven't slowed down in the last three decades.They arrived in Sydney from round the world: Bobbi Hunter; Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin; Tom Barber; Aline Charney Barber; Pat Farrington; Jonny Lewis.And they are all just as commited to the whales as they were in 1977 when they took direct action against Australia's last whaling station in Albany, Western Australia.They were honoured at a Greenpeace function of around 400 people in Sydney on Friday, Sept 14.Here's some of the press coverage:http://www.smh.com.au/news/natio nal/phantom-figure-behind-a-cause-unveile d/2007/09/14/1189276983734.htmlhttp://blo gs.smh.com.au/sit/archives/2007/09/innova tions_tactics_down_to_a.html© 2007 Text Copyright Chris Pash. All Rights Reserved.greenpeace whaling Whale s chris pash
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The Second Harpoon
2007-09-13 05:36:00
Tom Barber (above) and photographer Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) went out in the Zodiac for the last time on September 22, 1977, to run interference against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company whale chaser ships off Western Australia.It was Tom's second and Jonny's first close shave with a harpoon.Extract from THE LAST WHALE:"Jonny was rattled by the closeness and the noise of the cannon. His hands shook. He thought the harpoon was going to hit the Zodiac. Jonny thought Tom was lucky. At least he could hold onto the tiller.The crew on the chaser looked pretty happy to have frightened them. Jonny recovered and swung his attention to the whale. It had been hit. Jonny sagged. He felt impotent, useless, filled with overwhelming rage and frustration. Heavy duty.Detached from the world, Jonny noted that the whalers were efficient. They put two more harpoons into the whale, making sure it was dead, brought it alongside, pumped it with air, put a flag on the body and were off for the ne...
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Two Harpoon Tom
2007-09-13 05:00:00
Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin (l) and Tom Barber outside the Albany Police Station.(Second photo: Tom Barber and Allan Simmons in 1977 in the Zodiac inflatable they used in direct action against Australia's last whaling operation off Albany, Western Australia. )(JONNY LEWIS PHOTOS http://jonnylewis.org/)Tom Barber had close calls with explosive head harpoons twice during the campaign against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia, August/September 1977.Tom, fellow Australians Jonny Lewis and Allan Simmons, Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin and Bob Hunter, a Canadian and co-founder of Greenpeace, went up to 30 nautical miles into the Southern Ocean to run interference against the three whale chasing ships.Tom and Jean-Paul made official complaints to the police about one incident. In a written statement to Police, Tom Barber said: " ?We were about to cross behind the whale when we heard the thump of the harpoon discharge. The harpoon struck the whale near the centre ...
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The Last Whale harpooned by Australians
2007-09-05 04:37:00
By Chris PashPhoto by ED SMIDT Over the 26 years that the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company operated, about 16,100 whales were harpooned: 14,600 sperms whales; 1,500 humpback whales (according to Whale World).http://www.whaleworld.org/FAQs/Abo ut_Cheynes_Beach_Whaling_Company/The last whale was caught on November 20, 1978. That day nine whales were harpooned.To fill the annual quota of 713 whales, the three whales chaser ships had to take six female sperm whales. But on the last day of operation (November 21, 1978) no whales were harpooned.An extract from The Last Whale describing the last day of whaling in Australia:November 21, 1978 --The whale chasers dressed up for their last day. Each of the three vessels had flags and bunting flying. The crews had resigned themselves. The industry was gone and their jobs as well.Those who?d never fired the harpoon cannon got their chance. Skipper Paddy Hart thought he?d give everyone a go. That way they would recall, years later, that they?d ...
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