Far away on the edge of the Southern Ocean in Western Australia, Albany was the last glimpse of Australia for many of the 41,000 ANZAC troops leaving for the Great War. Now Bruce Munro’s Field of Light celebration marks 100 years since war ended.
We had two days of mindless slaughter, death and destruction in the pleasant little town of Albany which has a surprisingly bloody history: in 1914 it witnessed the departure of two great convoys taking some 41,000 Australian and New Zealand troops to the deadly battles of Gallipoli and until 1978 the tranquil waters of Frenchman Bay were home to Australia’s last whaling station.
The region was first sighted by Peter Nuyts in the Gulden Zeepaard in 1627 but it was left to the British to claim New Holland in 1791. With the French becaming a little too active in the region, it was decided to establish a settlement. The Amity left Sydney on 9th November 1826 and reached Princess Royal Harbour on Christmas Day. There were 46 assorted convicts, soldiers, a surgeon and a storekeeper with sheep, pigs and supplies for 6 months.
Frederickstown (after George III’s second son Frederick Augustus,the Duke of York and Albany) thus became the first European settlement in Western Australia. It was renamed the rather more manageable Albany in 1831 and by 1834 new settlers were starting to develop pastoral holdings.
The ANZAC Convoys
It soon evolved into a busy port with the export of timber and agricultural products, as well as servicing the needs of the gold fields. In 1914, its huge harbour was seen as a good gathering point for the ships that were to take the first influx of ANZAC troops to war.
On 1st November, 1914, the first convoy of 36 ships left with about 29,000 troops, 2000 sailors and nearly 8000 horses. So many men had answered the call to enlist and fight for the king that on 31st December of the same year, a second convoy was embarked with 12,000 troops and over 5000 horses.
They were en route to England when they were diverted to Egypt and on 25th April 1915, many of the troops landed at Gallipoli. Heavy losses and 8 months of futile if heroic fighting followed on both sides until the Allied troops were finally evacuated on 20 December 1915.
However, the soldiers ordeal was far from over: they would go on to fight in the fields of France with its vicious culmination at Paschendaal. The lucky ones stayed in Egypt and engaged in mounted warfare that led them through to the liberation of Palestine.
When war was finally over, 1 in 3 of them were dead. The remaining horses were shot and only one was ever bought home: Sandy, the favourite mount of Major General Sir William Bridges, who died of wounds received at Gallipoli and was himself to become famous as the only Australian soldier to be returned to his homeland for burial (other than the Unknown Soldier).
Opened in November 2014, the centre tells the story of the troops that left in the convoys from King George Sound in 1914 – for many it was their last ever sight of Australia. How gaily they marched off to war! One of the most moving pieces in the centre is the black and white film that confronts you as you enter the exhibition: ranks of soldiers marching along, smiling and waving at the camera. Young, old, short, tall, oblivious to what awaited them. Lines of sailors in jaunty uniforms, all accompanied by the relentless thud of marching feet leading them on inexorably to an unknown destiny. It seemed the whole world was mobilised.
A card with a soldier on it was handed out on entry – you were supposed to follow his story through the war. Simon rapidly handed me his New Zealander, who narrowly escaped being shot for desertion and was then killed two days later anyway. There was plenty of information to absorb and one could listen to the soldiers telling their experiences on audio – along the lines of I’ve lost a leg and both eyes but I’m alright mum and would do it all again if I could!
The centre has actually done a really good job, even if the Allies role were relegated to a single paragraph and the only battles covered were the ANZAC ones, so it was a rather truncated war. Still, they signed up voluntarily to fight for the Mother country and were sadly let down at Gallipoli – they saw it through and deserve their day in the sun.
Princess Royal Fortress
The ANZAC centre stands within a much older complex, the Princess Royal Fortress, dating back to the end of the 19th century and built to defend intercontinental trade routes and Australia. All the states, bar Tasmania, contributed to its cost. We joined a free tour led by Brian, a jovial Englishman who had narrowly escaped from the mines of England in 1980.
Within the old wooden barracks building, there is a roll call of the 187 soldiers from Albany who never came home, right down to the Vietnam War. Outside, a hillside path is lined with photos of all the ships in the convoys with the number of troops, officers and horses each one carried. Apparently people quite often visit to track down the ship that carried a relation. The viewpoint at the top gives a superb view over the harbour where they gathered and the outlying islands and beaches.
Nearby is an ammunition depot and a couple of large gun batteries – there are further guns on display near the ANZAC centre, with satisfyingly mobile gun barrels. Great fun for children and Simon!
The Desert Mounted Corps Memorial
A memorial to the Desert Mounted Corps stands at the top of Mount Clarence. The 1932 original stood at Port Said but was destroyed in the Suez crisis in 1956. The base was salvaged and bought back to Australia – the bullet holes can still be seen – and another statue was cast of the two troopers and their horses.
Nearby there are some pine trees: these are descendents of the Lone Pine which was one of the features of the Gallipoli battleground, where over 2000 ANZAC soldiers died. Six pine cones were bought back.
Just above is Padre White’s Lookout where the nation’s first dawn service was held on April 25th, 1923.
The Avenue of Honour/Field of Light
The avenue which leads up to the Light Horse Memorial was planted with trees in 1955 to commemorate the fallen of all wars, replacing a 1921 avenue on Middleton Road. Each tree has a plaque at its base corresponding to a soldier in the barracks roll call.
At present, there is a modern art installation winding amongst the trees – it is by the British artist Bruce Munro and called Field of Light. It is designed to honour the ANZAC soldiers in the centenary of the end of the Great War and consists of 16,000 lights in small glass spheres on elegant stems which wind their way up the hill in thick swathes. Brilliant in the night sky, their colours change constantly from green to yellow to orange, representing the native flowers of Australia and New Zealand, the wattle and the kowhai.
For me, the profusion of densely packed lights seems to symbolise the thousands of soldiers marching along to the unknown, whilst the artist claims peace, hope and light for the future. I guess that is the glory of modern art: it is open to many different interpretations.
The next port of call for us did not promise any light relief: the old whaling station. They have tried to bulk out the visit with silly 3D effect films with bad audio and have included a visit to a native animal sanctuary to justify the $32 entrance charge, but really this place speaks, indeed screams, for itself.
There might have been some mythical appeal to whaling in the olden days, but in modern times when spotter planes locate the animals and huge harpoons are used with delayed explosive, detonating inside the whale, there is little to admire. It is easy to see how whales were decimated and although 102 people lost their jobs when the factory closed down in 1978, one can but feel that it was long overdue.
Today the wide ramp and flensing area are mercifully blood free but if you don’t have a vivid enough imagination, there are films and photos to fill in the details. The whales were basically chopped into little pieces though the large heads required a machine driven saw. It was rough bloody work, the stripped men wearing spiked gumboots so they were able to walk over the carcasses. The pieces were shovelled through holes in the deck into high pressure cooking vats: in 3.5 hours a 40 tonne whale would be reduced to about 10 tonnes of liquid. The valuable whale oil sat on top of the mix, then a glue water portion which was dried for animal feed and finally a bottom layer of meat and bone called grax which was also dried to produce whalemeal, a high protein fertiliser.
The tour ended in the skeleton shed with a 22 m pygmy blue whale which was beached in Albany harbour in 1973. Saddest of all was a little preserved foetus, 25 days old, found in a slaughtered sperm whale.
The Cheynes Beach Whaling Company started operations in 1952 and was Australia’s most successful whaling company, at one stage providing 60% of the world’s sperm whale oil. In 26 years of operation, 14,600 whales were caught. In the early days they hunted humpbacks, but when they became protected in 1963, they switched to sperm whales. Between 1963 and 1978, 12,625 sperm whales were caught, the record being 1,147 in 1974: sobering statistics.
Finally there is Cheynes IV, the last in a series of whaling boats. On a successful day, this thing could drag home 14 whales. It is possible to go all over it, from the harpoon and spotting walkway high above the deck to the cosy crew cabins in the bowels of the ship. Her three sister ships have come to bad ends (one can still be seen beached on a reef off Albany, another was sunk as a dive site) but it is good that this final relic of Australian whaling has become the museum piece that she should be.
The Australian animal collection is worth a quick wander if you want to get up close with kangaroos and wombats, or even a koala – and who doesn’t, there is nothing as cute as Australian wildlife!?
Ironically the whaling station lies in the most beautiful area possible. There is an idyllic white sand beach and picnic spot at the end of the road on Frenchman Bay if you ignore the turn off for the whaling station. On the opposite side of the peninsula, within Torndirrup National Park, there is the beautiful Salmon Holes Beach and The Gap and Natural Bridge area are superb sunset spots. At The Gap there is a large platform which extends out over an inlet in the tall rocky cliffs: one can really appreciate the power of the waves as they crash over the rocks far below.
Albany
Albany itself is a pleasant little town though there is surprisingly little of it! It was only proclaimed a city in 1998 and has a population of 37,500. With the new ANZAC centre and another modern building on the water’s edge, the Entertainment Centre, it is obviously trying quite hard but there is still a surprisingly large amount of open space around.
In a way this is surprising: with the astonishing natural beauty of the area, its unspoilt beaches and picturesque hills, one would expect more development. However, it is still a long way away from anywhere and one can be thankful that it still has a delightful small town feel.
A wander in the old streets will rapidly cover the old church and war memorial. The reconstruction of the brig Amity is worth a look if you are passing and Dog Rock at the start of Middleton Road really does look like a giant stone hound. The beaches might look more appealing, the popular ones being Middleton Beach and Emu Point. Near the latter’s marina, there is a rather fine statue of a friendly seal who used to visit the little beach. Unfortunately some deviant stabbed him to death and now the sad plaque reads Beloved by many, betrayed by one.
Also of note are two of the best fish and chips in Western Australia: the friendly chap at Ocean and Paddock will happily go into the fishy options. We had a red snapper or nannygai as it is called locally and very good it was too, along with some sweet local scallops. The pulled pork rolls are another good option though we resisted the deep fried Mars bar: they are apparently not exclusive to northern England!
The other contender is Hooked on Middleton, near the beach. We also found Haz Beans for a jolly coffee by the marina. It is from here that the whaling boats now depart between June and October, but thankfully these days they are only taking tourists out to enjoy the annual migration of these magnificent animals who now swim in Australian waters in perfect safety.
Notes
The National ANZAC Centre is open 9 – 5 every day bar Christmas day. Entrance is $25. The Princess Grace fort is free to visit, as are all the other monuments in the area.
The Historic Whaling Station is open 9 – 5 every day bar Christmas day. Entrance is $32.
The Field of Light is switched on at dusk every day until 10pm and runs until ANZAC Day, 25th April 2019 when the Centenary celebrations are concluded. This is also peak wildflower season. Munro also has a Field of Light exhibition running concurrently at Uluru until December 2020.
Camping: We stayed at the free campsite at Cosy Corner East approximately 30 km west of Albany. There are great sites nestled under windblown trees above a stunning beach- we found it hard to leave!