Don Allen
Job Description:
Oil seperator, Maintenance during the off season
Period:
1951 to 1957
Don's seasonal job was to separate the impurties out of the Humpback oil by the means of a separator. In the off season for the first few years, he carted granite rock from the hills for the foundation of the oil tanks, other duties he endured was to cut the White Gum trees on Eric Goode's property for the bottom deck at the Whaling Station, this was to help landing the whales easier.
Fred Edmunds, his son Ross, Brian Doherty and Don built a small power boat out of a 1/16 plate, which Ross and Don used to tow the whales from the mooring buoy to the slipway for processing. They continued this job process for a couple of years until a massive storm came through the area on the off season and the boat disappeared.
In 1974, Don married Pam Edmunds, the daughter of the works foreman Fred Edmunds. With help, the couple built a two bedroom house on site at the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company on the proviso that the house was to be removed from site when Don left the station.
Don remembers that "It was great working on the whaling station and helping to process the first Sperm Whale, and too many other things to remember and write about".
Allen, Don