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Treasures of the north-west
By Peter Board
The north-west coast of Western Australia might seem like an unlikely place to fire up your detector but a quick look at the region’s history should be enough to convince you otherwise. Australia’s first recorded shipwreck occurred of the north-west coast of WA in 1622 when H.M.S. Tryall (or Trial) struck a reef off the Monte Bello Islands and foundered, taking to the bottom a treasure that was a royal gift to the King of Siam (Thailand). Under the command of John Brooke, her crew were the first Englishmen to sight or land on Australia. The wreck is Australia’s oldest known shipwreck. Alan Robinson, Australia’s most controversial diver and treasure hunter, was said to have salvaged some of that wreck and hidden it on or near the Monte Bellos. At least that was the story I heard from an old fisherman when I arrived there in 1976 with a boat load of diving equipment and some diving companions. The old fellow was convinced we were looking for “the spanglers (coins) that Alan Robinson buried on the islands”. In fact we were collecting marine specimens and treasure was the last thing on our minds.’ More on Robinson later.
Shipwrecks became a common occurrence on the north-west coast during the rip-roaring days when Australia boasted the largest pearling fleet in the world. Between 1863, when the first white settlers established their pastoral stations in the rugged Pilbara hinterland, and the end of World War II, hundreds of schooners, luggers, and smaller craft were wrecked in cyclones along the thousands of kilometres of treacherous north-west coastline. Most of them simply disappeared without trace, dashed to pieces on remote island beaches or reefs. Today, using modern electronic search methods, it is possible to locate some of these scenes of tragedy and reclaim some of the relics of yesteryear.
The pearling industry had its origins on the reefs around the Dampier archipelago when the early pastoral settlers began to supplement their meagre incomes by beachcombing for the abundant pearl shell. Using aboriginal labour, these highly lucrative operations were gradually extended into deeper water once the tidal reefs had been fished out, and within 10 years of its birth the industry had surpassed the pastoral industry in terms of revenue for the struggling Swan River Colony. The industry attracted a cosmopolitan collection of characters from every level of western society. Lords, lackeys, pirates and seafaring gentlemen – they all flocked to Cossack (the tiny port at the mouth of the Harding River), to begin their search for riches from the sea.
They established their own “layup” camps in mangrove creeks and island bays between Northwest Cape and the Lacepede Islands, and fished the cyclone-prone waters of the “Coasts of Romance” for Nature’s most romantic gem – the pearl! Yankee south-sea whalers and Aussie guano diggers also frequented the coast, as did fleets of Indonesian fishing prahaus, and evidence of all of this activity can be seen on island beaches all along the coast.
The island beaches and reefs of the Dampier Archipelago were my playground for decades but it wasn’t until I became involved with historical research that I really started to appreciate the potential of the islands for the amateur treasure hunter. Working with archaeologists from the Western Australia Museum in 1979, I combed almost every inch of beach on every island in the archipelago, locating, identifying and recording gravesites, whaling stations, and pearling camps. Some of the sites were already well known, some were new discoveries. Others that were historically recorded could not be found.
A selection of bottles from the old pearling camp at Blackhawk Bay.
Nineteenth century records showed that at least 11 graves were located somewhere on Enderby Island, but we found none. On Dolphin Island, the largest and most intriguing of the group, we expected to find five graves, but finally found nine. These mysterious graves contain the remains of unknown persons who may have been connected with any one or more of the old-time maritime industries; the riddle of their origins will probably never be solved. A search of Gidley Island revealed an old pearling camp tucked away behind the mangroves in a place called Blackhawk Bay. When we anchored my boat and struggled ashore we were amazed to find the rocky beach littered with antique bottles. Altogether we collected more than 300 glass and stoneware bottles dating from the 1860s to about 1910. Many other damaged ones were left there.
On a subsequent visit some years later I found three more, all with identical dates. Another beach gave up a Chinese brass coin of uncertain date. Not far from Dolphin Island a mainland beach showed signs of 19th century use, and a search with a metal detector revealed some interesting old artefacts, including a copper candle-snuffer, and a beautiful little bronze seal, delicately engraved with a bull’s-head motif.
Other finds nearby included silver cutlery, lead ingots, masses of copper sheathing, and a bronze coin or medallion which is identical to a Saxon coin found in England – bit of a mystery, that one! Cossack, now a ghost-town, pre-dates Broome by about 20 years, and was another favourite haunt of mine. This fascinating old place still produces little surprises, in spite of many years of bottle digger’s depredations.
In one 24-square-metre area where an old shack once stood, I found seventeen coins dating from 1791 to 1912. Dutch, English, Chinese and French – the coins were nearly all in good condition, including a fine gothic florin. Another little ‘blip’ turned out to be a stack of five silver threepenny pieces, wedged between two rocks in the foundations of an old housesite. On another occasion the sand gave up a delicately engraved Japanese silver snuff box, about half the size of a matchbox. One of the features of Cossack is the old stone jetty. Many years ago a local councillor, walking beside the jetty at low tide, picked up two gold sovereigns.
Research led me to an account of Teddy Naughton, an old-time pearling master, who would sometimes fill his hat with coins at the local ‘bank’, the White Horse Hotel, and entertain the locals by throwing handfuls of coins off the end of the jetty for his native divers to compete for.
Beach treasures from Dampier, shown with some of the Cossack coins and the silver Japanese snuff box (centre right).
I tried sifting and washing the mud, but the ground was so full of broken glass and rusty metal that was almost impossible to dig there. Not far from Cossack the Nickol River flats were known to produce quantities of alluvial gold.
One nugget tipped the scales at 280 grams (9oz), and many smaller ones were reported. Personally, I preferred the deserted island beaches, because you could always cool off in the sparkling ocean when you’d had enough, and you never knew what little treasure was going to pop out of the sand next.
But whatever your preference might be, the next time you take a holiday, think about the north-west of WA. There’s history aplenty, a little bit of mystery still, and who knows, maybe some treasure too. And if it’s gold you seek, pick up a copy of Paul von Zorich’s book, Karratha Gold.
Picture: Small boats tied up at the Cossack jetty. The Monte Bello Islands remain a nuclear radiation risk almost 70 years after British bomb tests in the area (1952). There are more than 260 islands and islets in the Monte Bellos, which lie about 120 kilometres off the coast of Dampier in north-west Western Australia. They are only accessible by boat and are rich in natural marine diversity and human history
The Notorious Alan Robinson
In August 1957, while diving with a companion off Ledge Point, 80km north of Perth, Robinson became convinced he had discovered the resting place of the Vergulde Draeck (Gilt Dragon), a Dutch East Indiaman lost in 1656. However, he was unable to relocate the find. On 14th Top, left: A selection of bottles from the old pearling camp at Blackhawk Bay Top, right: Small boats tied up at the Cossack jetty Left: Beach treasures from Dampier, shown with some of the Cossack coins and the silver Japanese snuff box (centre right) Above: The Monte Bello Islands remain a nuclear radiation risk almost 70 years after British bomb tests in the area (1952). There are more than 260 islands and islets in the Monte Bellos, which lie about 120 kilometres off the coast of Dampier in north-west Western Australia. They are only accessible by boat and are rich in natural marine diversity and human history Australian Gold Gem & Treasure 9 April, 1963, 15-year-old Graeme Henderson discovered the wreck while on a spearfishing trip with Robinson and three other divers. Robinson soon came to believe that he was being denied credit for his part in the find, and he removed various artefacts from the site, sometimes using gelignite. In December 1964 the Western Australian Parliament passed legislation to vest control of all historic shipwrecks in the Western Australian Museum, so that all the artefacts recovered were public property.
Alan Robinson pictured with some of the treasure he salvaged from the Gilt Dragon.
Disappointed in his hopes of fame and fortune, Robinson engaged in years of conflict with the authorities. In 1968 he led an expedition to consider the feasibility of recovering material from another Dutch wreck, the Zuytdorp (1712). Afterwards, he sought to conduct salvage operations, but the museum did not accept his proposal. He was further antagonised when the 1964 legislation was tightened in 1969 and 1973. Robinson, who worked as a used-car salesman and house painter in Perth and a marine-salvage contractor at Roebourne, was engaged in constant litigation. In 1969 he was among the discoverers of the 1622 English wreck, Tryall (Trial); the following year he was acquitted of using explosives on the site. He was also acquitted of illegally removing a ballast brick from the Vergulde Draeck, and a court upheld his claim to material recovered before the 1964 legislation.
Robinson eventually found his way to North Queensland as a prawn fisherman and there formed a de facto relationship with Lynette Hunter. He claimed to have found evidence of late sixteenth-century Spanish contact; and had earlier alleged he had seen the remains of a Phoenician trireme and a 12th-century Chinese junk off the Western Australian coast. In memoirs published in 1980, titled In Australia Treasure Is Not For the Finder, he complained of frequent harassment by the police, and in 1981 went to the Northern Territory alleging fear for his life. He was extradited to Sydney in April 1982 to face trial for conspiring with Patricia Green (who became the mother of his son in June of that year) to murder Lynette Hunter. On the day when a verdict was expected, 2nd November 1983, 56-year-old Robinson was found hanged in his prison cell at the Malabar remand centre, Sydney. He would almost certainly have been acquitted, as was Green.
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