Gibson Mick

Mick Gibson

Job Description
Flenser

Period
1950 - 1967

Mick was born in England in 1936 and came to Australia with his parents in 1948 when he was twelve. He lived at the Frenchman Bay Hostel which was run by his parents. During school holidays he worked at the whaling station with Ross Edmunds (son of Fred Edmunds, the site foreman) and when he left school started full time work at the station as a general hand during the construction and early days of the station. 

When whaling started he worked on the cookers. Mick married Gwen in 1959 and together they had the contract for cooking and flensing the whales for five years. It was a business partnership – Gwen did not participate physically in the business. Mick wasn’t taught flensing by anyone in particular – it was a skill he picked up as he went along. Most of the men working at the station were multi-skilled.

Mick and Gwen employed a team of nine flensers over the time they had the contract. When it wasn’t the whaling season everyone had other jobs to get them through until the next season started.

The names of the flensers employed over the years of the contracts are:-

Mick Gibson, Jim Shanhun, Eddie Shanhun, Ernie Bell, Stan Bell, Neil Wellman, Ging Udecz, Louey Kosinec, Brian Jackman, Basil Gradinaru, Des Scott, Ron Harley, Bob Hadley, Jack Martin, Bill Pearce, Glen Noakes, Greg Trouchet.

Flensing was a very hard, dangerous physical job but in those days they didn’t think anything of it. It was just a job which had to be done. Mick fell into the cookers at one time but was unhurt.