DAY 45 – Broome

Good Morning Broome!
 
Low 14°c (57°F) – High 31°c (88°F)
40km
 
Saturday morning and time to check out the market which was larger than we had anticipated but there wasn’t a huge range of stalls, a lot of clothing stalls, a few jewellery, soap, photography and food stalls but worth a wander through and how often do you see a food stall offering tea, coffee or MILO!!!!!  It was time Shane joined the brigade of men wearing tie-died t-shirts and so I purchased one for him.
 
While we were out we headed to Gantheaume Point.  The Gantheaume Point beach area, which we drove on and took Kitty for a walk on Thursday, adjoins Cable Beach and is, as we saw then, a popular meeting place for locals and visitors to launch boats, or spend the day relaxing, swimming and enjoying a cold drink at sunset.  Gantheaume Point beach is also a departure point for Broome’s kayak tours, fishing charters, whale watching tours and extended cruises.
 
Gantheume Point lighthouse was commissioned in 1905, and was one of ten lighthouses built on the West Australian coast between 1900 and 1913, most of them on the North West coast.  A house was provided for the lighthouse keeper, the light was automated in 1922 and the technology has been upgraded on a number of occasions, the last time in 1984. The light is now powered by mains electricity and can be seen for 18 nautical miles (roughly 33km) in normal weather conditions. The tower is home to a family of ospreys, a young one of which was perched on the side of the tower frame calling for a feed as I passed by.
 
When the residence was no longer required for a lighthouse keeper in 1922 it was purchased by Pat Percy and his wife Anastasia. Pat was a police sergeant at Broome, but took up the more lucrative pursuit of pearling. He famously had his Chinese crewman Wing Loong concrete the bottom of a rockpool for his wife who was crippled with arthritis. Far from being a mermaid-like maiden, Anastasia is said to have been obese and able to break wind at will which she would do when she was near people she didn't like (I secretly love her for this!). Pat Percy invented the pearl box, a secure box for safeguarding pearls on board the pearling luggers until they could be handed over to the pearling master.
 
The boats used for pearling from the 1870s, known as pearling luggers, were unique to Australia. The last of the pearling luggers were built in the 1950s, and were over 50 feet (15 m) long. They were some of the last wooden sailing vessels in commercial use in Australia.  At the peak of the pearling industry, in the early 1900s, there were 350 to 400 pearling luggers operating out of Broome each year. By 2005, there were just two still afloat in Broome. In 2007, one of them, Ida Lloyd, sank off Cable Beach, and in 2015, Intombi, built in 1903, was burnt. However as of 2019, there were still about 40 luggers of various types still afloat around Australia.
 
After the deaths Anastasia and Patrick, the keeper's quarters became a nun’s retreat where Girl Guide groups would visit in the 1930's.  It is during one of these visits that it is said a girl guide became the first non-Aboriginal person to notice the now National Heritage listed dinosaur footprints.
 
The keeper's quarters fell into dilapidation and eventually burnt down around 1970, leaving only the stone fireplace and chimney which still stands at the site. The second lighthouse stood on Gantheaume Point until it was replaced in 1984 by the current stainless steel tower and electric light.
 
Nigel Clarke, a local dinosaur footprint researcher, says that during the Cretaceous period, Broome was a massive river delta rich with dinosaur life.  At least nine species of dinosaur footprints have been identified in the 130 million year old Broome sandstone.  At Gantheaume Point there are apparently good examples of three-toed theropod prints and enormous round sauropod prints.  The theropod prints belonged to five metre long Tyrannosaurus-type predatory dinosaurs, and the sauropod prints show where 30 metre long, 70 tonne Brontosaurus-type dinosaurs walked.  Unfortunately no prints for me as the tide was too high but imagine living in any world where a 30 metre long dinosaur is sharing your space!!!!!
 
The sandstone cliffs in this area though are just breathtaking.  I spent a lot of time wandering along this piece of coastline on both sides of the lighthouse, with every few steps revealing yet another intriguing cave or layers of rock that begged to be photographed.  A number of natural windows are along this area although the main one that everyone seems to desire to be photographed by was probably a little out of reach for me while on my own.  Break a leg there and you would have to wait until another tourist dropped by to raise the alarm.
 
While also on the subject of Pearling I was really taken with the statue known as the Women in Pearling monument.  Overlooking the waters of Roebuck Bay at Bedford Park stands a 3 metre tall statue depicting a pregnant Aboriginal woman emerging from the water holding a pearl shell.  It 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.  In the early days of the pearl shell industry Aboriginal women were captured and sold, through a trade called Blackbirding, and forced into diving. Some women were made to dive to big depths, even while pregnant.  Sadly this is yet another of Australia’s unsavory historical dealings with its indigenous people.  The site chosen for the memorial is significant as 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.  Luggers with sails at half mast were a portent of death and hundreds of men and women lost their lives while diving for pearls.
 
Back to modern day Broome and I have to say it qualifies as one of the strangest layouts of any town I have visited with both an airport and a prison in the town.  The airport is incredibly close to the main town centre and the prison adjacent to houses, shops and across the road from the local library and Council office. 
 
The Moscow Circus in town which led us to discuss the history of circuses and what they have evolved to now that many of the traditional animals have been banned, whether their attendances have been affected by the recent war raged on the Ukraine and also just how much “Moscow” there is in the Moscow Circus now.
 
Shane headed out to take a few more sunset pictures while I babysat the furball, taking the opportunity to start packing down outside while being serenaded by the not so dulcet tones of the local speedway, right next door to the caravan park, who were having a meet tonight.
 
On Shane’s return, a very late visit to Woolworths for a top up of groceries also presented a couple of eye opening moments when a young Asian checkout assistant in the self serve section insisted on having every solitary checkout inhabited despite there being very little space, very narrow registers and signs everywhere insisting on social distancing and then she proceeded to “help” everyone get their purchases through, handling everyone’s items/bags/trollies.  When I remarked that it’s sad to see social distancing seems to be a thing of the past, she commented “You must be visiting here” and then went off muttering in another language something that surely wasn’t complimentary.
 
Our final task for the evening was to get fuel which highlighted the current social issues with indigenous residents as anyone pulling up at the fuel station (including Shane) was being approached and harassed for money as they fueled their vehicle or went to pay.  The petrol station, quite a large well lit establishment, required people to ring a doorbell and request entry to the building to buy items and pay for fuel.  Shane locked the car immediately on leaving it as one woman next to us had her door held open as she tried to leave the station.
 
Back home and our last night in Broome.  We’ll be sad to leave but there are more adventures waiting down the road.