[You must enlarge this shot.]
The first thing a lot of people say about Wineglass Bay is that it doesn't look like a wineglass. Well, that's not how it got its name, and if you are squeamish, look away now. In the 1820s the seas off the east coast of Tasmania were almost stripped bare of the largest mammals in the world, the magnificent whale species like the Blue Whale, and the Sperm Whale. Whale oil at the time was the way people lit their lamps. It's a miracle any whales survived, but the great news is that now whales are seen down the east coast of Tasmania - but it took decades of conservation to achieve that.
American sea captain, Richard Hazard, set up base here in the 1820s. And this safe harbour got its name in this manner:
"The whalers set up shore bases in the bay, sparking violent clashes with the Pydairrerme (the local indigenous people). An American whaler, Captain Richard Hazard of the Thalia, would give his name to the great granite peaks that loom over the bay and the bay itself would take its name from the whalers’ method of hunting. From shore, they would set out in small boats to chase and harpoon passing whales, then tow the carcasses back to shore to butcher and boil down the blubber to extract oil. The oil was shipped to Britain to be used for lighting and the whalebone for ladies’ corsets and hoop skirts. Shore-based whaling lasted about 20 years on the peninsula but in that time, whenever the whalers were about their grisly business, the bay was dyed red with blood – like rich red wine in a glass.
necessaryindulgences.com/2017/10/wineglass-bay/
There you go, a closer image to Hell one could not imagine! So very different from the serene and beautiful scene that greets us all these years later. If you stand here on a day like this, sun in the air and a gentle breeze, and you really "listen", you can almost hear the cries from 200 years ago. The cries of busy whalers, but also the cries of a people crushed and driven from their sacred lands. We must not forget.
