Memorial Trail
The Cultured Pearl Memorial depicts three key people involved in the Kuri Bay pearl industry, T Kuribayashi, Keith Dureau and H Iwaki. Mr.Tokuichi Kuribayashi was originally from Nippon Pearl Company, Tokyo, while Mr. Hiroshi Iwaki and Keith Francis Dureau were from Pearl Prop. Ltd.
The memorial also contains tribute plaques to all those who sailed the sea and dived for pearl, as well as a plaque paying tribute to indigenous pearl divers. The 'golden age' of pearling was during the years before World War One, when 403 luggers operated out of Broome. The recovery after the war was slow and by the 1930s there were no white pearlfishers and the industry had been effectively taken over by Japanese crews.
By 1939 there were only 50 luggers operating in the waters around Broome and the pearl industry was severely depressed. After the Second World War, the pearl industry started up again but this time it was with cultured pearls with the process being learnt from Kokichi Mikimoto.
By 1956 a cultured pearl consortium had been established and by the 1980s it was earning over $50 million per annum for Broome.
The Memorial Wall remembers those who have committed their bodies to the sea.
The monument, erected by the St. John Ambulance Association and relatives, commemorates crayfisherman and community member, Ernie Crocos (45) who died in 1971 of a sudden heart attack. He was a respected member of the community, involved in search and rescue efforts for others lost at sea.
A park in Denham named after George Wear, a popular fishing identity who lived and worked from his small motorboat Telstar in Shark Bay during the 1960’s to late 1970’s. Born in Denham on 21 February 1916, George served in the Australian Army during World War II and saw action in New Guinea. He was discharged from military service in January 1946.
After the war, he worked briefly at BHP Yampi Sound, North Kalgoorlie Mines and then the Geraldton ice works before returning to Shark Bay in the early 50’s where he fished briefly on the Vigilant, before buying the Telstar. George was highly regarded for his friendly character and was often seen fishing the waters of Dirk Hartog Island. He was a descendant of George Turner Wear, from Northumberland England, who arrived in Shark Bay in 1882 and worked on several pearling boats, including the Clodian and Spectator.
George loved the Bay and its people and was always friendly and helpful to everyone he came in contact with. George died in tragic circumstances when he fell overboard and drowned after loading supplies on to his boat Telstar on February 20, 1983.
A stone obelisk commemorates the Japanese pearlers who were drowned in a cyclone.
The Japanese pearl divers were mostly from the Taiji which is a small town in the prefecture of Wakayama. Their diving ritual would often begin by downing a bottle of port, before donning their cumbersome, vulcanised canvas suits and massive bronze helmets, after which they would be lowered over the lugger`s side to spend hours underwater. On the bottom they struggled about in lead-weighted boots, often almost horizontal as they peered through inch-thick faceplates into murky waters, frantically scooping oysters into bags because divers were paid by the amount of shell they collected.
The early luggers were sail-powered and only catered for one diver`s apparatus, but by the 1930s, most vessels were motorised and mechanical air pumps allowed two divers per boat. The death toll in the early pearl industry was horrific, from the `bends`, cyclones and sharks. Four cyclones caught the pearling fleet at sea between 1908 and 1935. The death toll for these is only approximate, but it is known that more than 100 boats and nearly 300 men perished.
The unveiling of a monument to the memory of those Japanese who lost their lives in the two blows of 1908 was made an interesting ceremony at the Broome cemetery, when some 600 people attended to do honour to the dead. The road leading to the Japanese portion of the cemetery was thronged with pedestrians, and others in vehicles and on horseback, and by the time proceeding’s commenced the surroundings were thronged with all classes of the community.
The monument was subscribed to and erected entirely by the Japanese residents of Broome.Engraved on the front of the monument were the words (in Japanese), “To the memory of,” and then followed the names of those who lost their lives. Western Mail (Perth), 20th February 1909.
Memorial commemorates John Battersby (19) who died while pearl diving in 1983. John was from Newcastle and disappeared while diving off the Roebuck Pearl, which was drift fishing for pearl near Eighty Mile Beach. Six weeks later remnants of his diving gear were found at Lagrange Bay. The coronial inquest into his death determined it to be accidental.
Monument to the crew members of the fishing trawlers Lady Pamela and Harmony who were lost at sea during Cyclone Bobby, which crossed the coast just east of Onslow in February 1995. Seven lives were lost when the fishing trawlers were sunk off the coast from Onslow. An intensive investigation was conducted into the sinking of the vessels and the deaths of their crews, which found that the vessels had put to sea after cyclone warnings had been given throughout the area.
Monument to the crew members of the fishing trawlers Lady Pamela and Harmony, which were lost at sea during Cyclone Bobby, when it crossed the coast just east of Onslow in February 1995. Seven lives were lost when the fishing trawlers were sunk off the coast from Onslow.
An intensive investigation was conducted into the sinking of the vessels and the deaths of their crews, which found that the vessels had put to sea after cyclone warnings had been given throughout the area.
Memorial dedicated by the Kampe Family to Leo Kampe, who drowned off the coast of Cervantes in December 1975.
This lighthouse sculpture was created by Aubrey Panizza and sponsored by the Cervantes Country Women`s Association to honour and pay tribute to the many lives lost and the ships that have been wrecked off the coast of Cervantes.
The front inscription is written by Mariee Hesford and reads:
To the men who sailed the tall ships
To the men who worked the small ships
They charted the seas
They mapped out the land
Some reaped her rich bounties
Some sadly ran aground
To those men and ships
Who never made it home
We have erected this lighthouse and penned this poem
Plaque commissioned by the Cervantes Historical Society, commemorating the loss of the Mary off the coast of Cervantes in 1946. The Mary was being towed to Fremantle by the Lapwing through the reefs, but was hit by a large wave and took on water, before being hit by a second wave causing her to roll, throwing her six crew into the water.
The Skipper, Luigi Pittorini (47), and five of his crew were drowned. The crewmen were Domenico Cappelluti (53), Giovanni Germinario (43), Silvio Marchese (24), Antonio Marino (31) and Mauro Caputo (21). The shipwright, Len Back, was the only one to survive after being rescued by the Lapwing. The crew were wearing heavy sea overalls and boots and it is believed these may have been responsible for the heavy loss of life. No trace was found of the men, or the Mary, which sank in 40 feet of water.
A Memorial erected at the site above where the Nor 6 crashed into the cliffs. Andy de Petra, a Nor West Whaling fisherman (the company that owned the trawler), Paul & Pam Dickenson and Hugh Edwards were responsible for the memorial that stands along the top of the cliffs just south of Steep Point. The Memorial states:
On April 25, 1963, the brand-new prawn trawler, Nor 6, crashed on the rocks below this spot at 5.30am in the early morning darkness. She was immediately overwhelmed by the surf and rolled over and sank in less than a minute. Her crew, Barry Allen, Ron Poole and Tony Romonostro were all drowned in the accident. Her skipper, Jack Drinan, aged 38, had been off-watch and was flung clear by the first wave. He climbed into the trawler’s brine tank, or icebox, which had floated clear on the backwash from the waves.
At the time, the Admiralty Chart of the area was incomplete. It dated back to sailing ship days when HMS Herald made a survey of Shark Bay in 1858. In 1963, the chart showed only a dotted line along this section of cliffs, indenting considerably to the east. Other causes were the overhead riding light reflecting on the foredeck and back onto the windscreen, obscuring the helmsman’s view into the night.
If the Nor 6 had been half an hour later in her departure, she would have been off this point in the daylight and the cliffs would have been observed in time. A massive sea and air search over several days failed to find any trace of survivors. By the time an aircraft finally sighted the wreck, Jack Drinan and the icebox, had drifted far out to sea. Police divers swam down to the wreck, but could find no sign of the crew and it was presumed that all had drowned. Meantime, Drinan was making a remarkable voyage. His raft was blown on easterly winds. He broke off a metal fitting and carved a hole in the icebox to gain access. Then he survived on the crew’s food in the icebox and the freshwater from the melting ice. Eventually the wind changed, and after 14 days adrift reduced to drinking seawater in the end, he was blown back to the coast close to the spot where his journey had begun.
He had carved a surf ski and a paddle from the icebox lid for when he got close to land. He managed to launch it and paddle into South Passage around Monkey Rock. While crossing the passage to Dirt Hartog Island, he was picked up by the fishing boat Sonoma, and the news of his survival was radioed to the world. In Carnarvon, the destination of the Nor 6, he was greeted by his wife, Jean, family and friends, who for a fortnight had believed he had drowned. Now he was welcomed as a man back from the dead. He continued his sea-going career and died of cancer in Perth aged 61 in 1986. Some years after the Nor 6 tragedy his brine tank, covered in barnacles, washed up in South Passage, returned by the sea.
The Port Denison Obelisk, forming the Fishermen’s Memorial and Lookout, is prominently situated at Point Leander on top of a sand hill and has a commanding view of Arurine Bay.
It is of solid stone construction, standing on a stone base about three metres square. The obelisk is about 1.8 metres square at its base and about four metres high. The top section is pyramidal. It has historical significance for its association with the early development of sea transport at Port Denison and is a rare historical component dating from the early days of the settlement at the Irwin River (c.1860s). The site is highly valued by the local community who consider it to be an important landmark, with its high vantage point and views of Port Denison and the coastline, and a popular tourist destination.
The ruins of the second obelisk, which was demolished 1977-79 and is situated approximately one kilometre from the first, is associated with the original Port Denison and Old Irwin Jetty. Michael G. Kailis unveiled the fisherman’s memorial plaque in 1979, paying respect to several deceased fishermen lost at sea between 1916 and 1977. They include; Albert and Theodore Money, Charles Swanson, Edward Joseph Foster, William Roser, Robert Allan, Maxwell Conrad Bussenschutt, Malcolm Donald Zimmerman, Robert Green and Neville Graeme Hynes.
A memorial for the lost crew from the 13 metre fishing trawler Returner that sank off the Pilbara coast, 20 kilometres from Karratha on 11 July 2015 was unveiled in June 2016. Geraldton local Chad Fairley and Mason Carter from Kalbarri lost their lives when the vessel went down. Mason's younger brother, Jesse, stepped up to the plate, pulling the community together, and organised all aspects of getting a memorial installed to commemorate the loss of the men.
Memorial commemorates pearl diver Richard Peter Bisley (27) who disappeared while diving for pearls in Roebuck Bay in 1993.
Richard Bisley was doing a routine dive when he disappeared. His mangled aqualung was found by searchers and his remains were found inside a tiger shark, which was caught in Roebuck Bay a week later.
Memorial plaque in honour of Shane Graeme Kramer (49) who died in 2008 when his boat, the Thalia II rolled when entering the North End in Lancelin. His Son, Benjamin, took his own life in 2013 and a plaque in honour of him can be seen adjacent to his fathers.
The Jetty commemorates the local fisherman who started the fishing industry in Fremantle. The memorial incorporates 12 timber columns, the names of 608 fishermen who pioneered the industry in Fremantle, and two bronze sculptures from designers, Jon Tarry and Greg James. The 14-metre jetty sits on the site of the original jetty - long since gone - where fishermen would unload their catches.
Of the 608 names, 17 have perished at sea. They are:
Pre-1947
Name Vessel
Carl Berg Wanderer II
Domenico Cappelluti Mary
Giovanni Germinario Mary
Thomas Katnic Raymond
Silvio Marchese Mary
Antonio Marino Mary
Frank (Francesco) Migliore Wanderer
Franc (Francesco) Olivari Two Friends
Luigi Pittorino Mary
Marcellino Prioli Two Friends
Cono Tripi
Pietro Vinci San Francisco
Post-1947
Paolo Carbonaro Palermo
Salvatore Monastra Palermo
Giuseppe Monastra Palermo
Vito Spadavecchia Roma
Ljubo Surjan Vela Luka
A plaque commemorates the deaths of two newsmen killed in a light aircraft crash off Cervantes in 1960. On 28th November that year, Channel 7 news cameraman Keith “Digby” Milner (27) and The West Australian photographer Owen “Willie” Williams (38) were killed when their chartered Cessna crashed into the sea while filming the 82ft freezer boat Villaret, which had struck a reef. The crew of the boat made it to shore. The Cessna pilot and cadet reporter Allan McIntosh were both injured, but were rescued by another boat. The Villaret was later salvaged and taken to Fremantle for repairs. Today the reef is known as Villaret Reef. Re-dedicated by the Surviving Families.
Overlooking the waters of Roebuck Bay at Bedford Park stands a three metre statue depicting an Aboriginal woman emerging from the water holding a pearl shell. This statue is known as the Women in Pearling monument.
The statue seeks to honour the contribution of women to the pearling industry, and to acknowledge the Aboriginal women who were exploited as divers along the coastline south of Broome during the ‘blackbirding’ phase. The practice of blackbirding in the earlier days of the industry was the coercion and kidnapping of Aboriginal women to work on pearl luggers diving for pearl shells.
The site chosen for the memorial is significant, as the it was a lay-up site for pearling luggers, with camps for the indentured labourers set up along the shore. The families of the pearling crews would wait at the foreshore for the luggers to return from their time at sea.