The Archaeology of Subsistence on the Maritime Frontier: Faunal Analysis of the Cheyne Beach Whaling Station 1845-1877 MARTIN GIBBS 200604311 The mid-nineteenth-century shore-based whaling stations scattered along the western and southern Western Allstralian coasts were often at the extreme edge of the frontier of European settlement. This paper explores the archaeological evidence for food supply at the Cheyne Beach whaling station, northeast of Albany. It establishes that, despite the difficulties of supply, the occupants of the station retained a heavy reliance on sheep in preference to either salted meats or readily accessible native fauna. It is suggested that this may have been a result of dietary preference, but could also result from whaling requiring a state of constant preparedness that kept the workers in the immediate vicinity of the site and unable to undertake hunting or farming activities. INTRODUCTION In the mid-I830s the European settlers of Western Australia attempted to revive their ailing economy by developing a whaling industry along the southern and western coasts, hunting the winter migrations of Right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) and Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Over the following decades until the late 1870s, small shore- based whaling stations (fisheries) were established in bays and on islands from Dampier Archipelago in the north, to Cape Arid in the far east. These camps were usually occupied for four to five months between May and November by between one and two dozen men, and sometimes by their wives and children. In many cases the stations represented an industrial maritime frontier that operated far from other European settlements and pre-dated more enduring colonization efforts. The remote location and almost complete lack of documen- tation on either the industrial operation of these whaling stations, the lifeways of those who worked there, or the role of these sites as loci for some of the first sustained contact with coastal Aboriginal communities, makes these camps and their surrounds a fascinating subject for archaeological investi- gation (Gibbs 1996). This paper focuses on the diet at the Cheyne Beach whaling station (1846-1877), based on an analysis of faunal materials and associated foodway items recovered during excavations in 1989-91. Although the deposits are most likely associated with the station manager and his family rather than the whaling workforce, factors associated with isolation, seasonality and the maritime industrial nature of the settlement are considered, as is evidence for adaptation and the evolving relationship between European colonists and the Australian environment. Note that the site should not be confused with the operations of the twentieth-century Cheyne Beach Whaling Company whose former processing plant near Albany is now the 'Whaleworld' museum. BACKGROUND Albany merchant Captain John Thomas first formed a small shore whaling party in 1846, establishing his station at Cheyne Beach, situated 50 km directly northeast of Albany. The station itself was located at the southernmost end of Hassell Beach, a long, sandy bay typical of the south coast of Western Australia (Fig. 1). This end of Hassell Beach is protected from J '\ '\ kM woodland garden? Inter-dunaJ swamp " re«Js excalllltlld al'lla lookout rock o r r. r \\ granite shelf k \ \ \t JJJ r rr r .... r ". 'J .::' ' ••••• :: . 20 40m J I CHEYNE BEACH o ! N t Fig. 1: Location map. 115 Copyright of Full Text rests with the original copyright owner and, except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, copying this copyright material is prohibited without the permission of the owner or its exclusive licensee or agent or by way of a licence from Copyright Agency Limited. For information about such licences contact Copyright Agency Limited on (02) 93947600 (ph) or (02) 93947601 (fax)