Having given Gerty the day off yesterday, I took her out for a local explore today, down to Roebourne and the old gaol. And what a good call that was - thanks to Joan and Jim whom I originally met on the Eyre Peninsula, then on the Nullabor. They recommended it, and it was every bit as good as they said it was. Superfriendly staff and a really excellent display of artefacts and history in the place which only officially closed in 1984.
Reading the stuff, it seems that conditions in which aboriginal prisoners were kept were particularly harsh here, with them being shackled in neck chains to the wall at night and also chained when they worked outside the prison. Prisoners of other races were not chained. No particular reason for it is given; perhaps it was just the particular mix of settlers here who dictated the conditions. new cells were also designed to keep races and skin colour separate - asiatics, europeans and aboriginals.
But unlike other areas, the isolation on the northwest and the decision that convicts could not be used for labour above the 26th parallel - just below the Tropic of Capricorn - actually saved the local indigenous people and stopped them being wiped out as they were in other states. They were a valuable source of labour, even if they were treated barbarically. And they became very good horsemen, so useful as stockmen, despite coming from a land with no native hoofed animals.
A comment in the visitors' book made me smile though. " The Europeans weren't very educated, were they?' No of course they bloody weren't, you dweeb, being mostly chancers, absconders, convicts, plus some decent settlers, all arriving in a land with harsh conditions, no laws and a people they had no idea about. Of course they made things up to suit themselves and lord it over the aboriginals. Really, I sometimes wonder if people actually stop to think about why modern Australia exists, and how everyday things came about, right down to language and expressions. I've given up counting how many times I hear people claiming that something is a proper Australian phrase, when its clearly not and was imported along with settlers from the old world. Except for 'selfie'; I'll give them that one, although I am beginning to wonder if they actually realise how it can be interpreted. Still, makes a change from merchant banker.....
Anyway, Roebourne was the original town in the area, with Cossack - originally known as Tein Tsin - being the port. It became a thriving place, particularly when the tramway linking the wharf to the town was built, and was all based on the pearl industry with people dry shelling then wading and when Asians arrived ( mostly Japanese and Malay) they started diving. But the so called native divers were restricted by the water temperature, and it was only at the turn of the 1800s to 1900s and the advent of diving clothing, that the season was extended. But by then, Cossack was already losing out to Broome as the pearling centre.
The town today is abandoned, with only five buildings left - the courthouse, schoolhouse, police barracks and an old store. An effort has been made to mark out sites of interest but its quite odd as the info boards are in the midst of heavily weeded areas with little more than a few stones left. Its funny how the fortunes of places rise and fall according to trade and industry. It is really pronounced in Australia, perhaps because of the size or perhaps because it is so recent. There are similar patterns in Europe of course, particularly along the North Sea coasts, both in England and continental Europe, where the fortunes of a town rose and fell according to the wool industry - Boston,Kings Lynn, Norwich etc. Same I guess with the decline of the East Coast fishing fleets in places like Hull and Lowestoft.
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