Pearl Farm.

At turn of last century 80% of the worlds pearl shell was coming from australia. It was a dangerous industry with a 50% fatality rate. This industry was excluded from the white australia policy so most of the workers were Indigenous and Japanese. Another shameful example from our colonial history.
By 1910 - 65% of the world’s pearls were also produced by Australia. This part of the industry was decimated when Mr. Mikimoto in Japan started a cultured pearl industry. Australia then focused on the lucrative button industry until the introduction of plastic destroyed the demand for shell buttons. To try and recover the Cygnet Bay Pearl industry worked to develop a process to culture pearls. In 1960 - Lyndon Brown became the first non Japanese person to culture pearls.
It’s a labour intensive industry with the oyster shells requiring constant cleaning for several years as the pearls grow. It’s takes 5 years from collecting the shells, growing them to adolescence, inserting the irritants to produce the pearl, and then growing the pearl. About 60% of the oysters nurtured for 5 years produce pearls. Every part of the pearl is used, including the shell which is used in a variety of paints.
Traditionally the shells were carved and the back layered with ochre to provide decorative items that told the stories of the Bardi Jawi people. They were also a basis of trade.

EDIT: I went back and bought the pearl!!!Leggi altro