Ross Edmunds
Job Description
Whale Cookers, Foreman
Period
1952 to 1963
Ross Edmunds commenced working on the station at the age of 16 years with the intention of becoming experienced in all areas of the whaling industry. Each Year a new plant operation was taken on and included the following:
By Products: Drying cooked meat and bone into whale meal stock food.
Cookers: Cooking the whales to extract the whale oil.
Oil Separators: Removing all impurities to create pure whale oil.
Contract Flensing: Cutting up whales, filling the cookers.
Tow Boat Operator: Towing whales from mooring buoys to station.
Boiler Attendant: Firing boilers on shore station and catcher boats.
Off season: General maintenance, mainly welding and pipe fitting.
Production Foreman: Production and storage of whale oil and whale meal. Radio and monitoring whales caught with catcher boats.
Most significant Event: There were many important and exciting events over the years, but the catching of the first sperm whale was the most significant. Fred Edmunds was works manager at this time and had done extensive research into Sperm Whale numbers off the Albany coast. At the end of the Humpback season, a catcher boat, skippered by Frank Hughes, and with a crew consisting mainly of Fred and the shore station personnel, put to sea. I can remember myself and Ron Birss on board but can’t remember the others. However, I can clearly remember the excitement when a pod of sperm whales was sighted and the order given to take one. This was the first of many thousands taken and was the start of the most successful whaling era in the history of Australia.
Amusing Event: In the early days, the whaling industry attracted some rough and tough men and there were some rather hectic parties at the station at times. At one such party, a few of the lads attached a large whale penis, on a short rope, to the back bumper of the car owned by the whale spotter pilot. Not knowing this, the pilot then proceeded to drive through the centre of Albany to his home. The next morning, while flying out to spot whales, he flew over the whaling station and “dive bombed” the chaps working on the decks and let fly with the whale penis. Luckily it didn’t hit anyone, can you imagine the newspaper headlines if it had!!!
Edmunds Ross