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Videos recorded by film makers Greg McKee and Mathew Duchesne in 1998.
All clips and images ©1998 Greg McKee and Mathew Duchesne.
These clips are a tiny selection from 20+ hours of extraordinary interviews with
eyewitnesses.
Sadly, all of this group have since passed away.
Revisit this site in the future to listen to audio interviews with whalers and
family recorded in 1980s.
Never ignore your elders, for they may have experienced wonders you can scarcely
imagine.
We never know how long they will be with us.
Jack tells how the killers would take the anchor line of his fishing boat in
their mouths and tow it around. He mentions how Elsie Severs’(nee Davidson) husband Norm Severs had the killers swim around him when his
whaleboat was smashed off Moutries’ reef. 728kb
Elsie Severs, daughter of George Davidson describes the “change” where the steer oarsman would change places with the harpooner in order to
lance the whale. She describes the “Law of the Tongue”, where the killers always took first share of the whale.
Doug Ireland, eyewitness to whale chases describes the Davidsons’ reluctance to use modern weapons to hunt whales and the fighting chance that
the whales had to escape. 1.1mb
Margaret Brooks, daughter of Davidson’s neighbour J.R. Logan was a regular close-up eyewitness to whale chases. She
was often in amongst the action on her father’s yacht “White Heather” which was freely offered as a rescue boat to the whaleboat crews.
She often claimed the killers were far smarter than working animals, and perhaps
at least as intelligent as people. 608kb
Margaret describes Tom floptailing, then being led out to sea by Old Tom whilst
in the White Heather. 3.2mb
Yuin Elder “Guboo” Ted Thomas describes his grandfather being called by the killers at night to
join a hunt. The yuin people are proud of their whaling heritage, yet are glad
whaling is finished in Australia. Guboo believed the use of technology such as
motorboats and rifles or canon by those nowdays claiming to conduct “traditional cultural whaling” is a farce. 2.3mb
Watch author Tom Mead talk about interviewing George Davidson and researching
the book “Killers of Eden”.
He also recounts the drowning of Jack davidson.
