The one hour tour at Pearl Luggers was very informative and given by Rachel, a Geordie lass. A lugger is a small sailing boat with a particular type of sail called a lug sail, and it was these luggers which were used by pearl divers.
The early years of pearl diving in Broome were shameful times as Aboriginals were kidnapped from the West Kimberley by gangs known as ‘blackbirders’. They were drugged and put on the luggers and forced to free dive for the pearl shells. Women who were pregnant were often taken as it was thought they had a better lung capacity. There is a statue to acknowledge these female divers at Roebuck Bay.
With the introduction of diving suits in the 1880s, divers could go deeper and stay under for much longer which increased the amount of pearl shells that could be recovered. This pretty much brought to an end the practise of coercing Aboriginal divers and Japanese divers were mostly employed. It was a highly dangerous occupation. The suits were primitive and many divers suffered from divers’ paralysis (now called ‘the bends’). Many became addicted to opium to deal with the pain. The helmet itself weighed 45kg and if a diver fell over on deck while wearing the helmet it would break his neck.
Pearl shell was highly sought after particularly for making buttons and Broome supplied 80% of the world’s pearl shell. If a pearl was found when cleaning the shells, it was expected to be placed in a P. Percy Box which allowed pearls to be dropped in but not tipped out.
During WWII, every Japanese person in Broome was interned and this was a disaster not only for the pearling industry but for pretty much every industry in Broome. As other materials were developed such as plastic for buttons, the demand for pearl shell decreased.
