Albany 2026: Former whaler Stuart Clements recalls work aboard the chasers and the end of whaling in Albany

Whaling is one of Albany’s major historical claims to fame, with the city the site of the last shore-based whaling station in Australia. The Cheynes Beach Whaling Company closed on November 21, 1978, ending an industry that had shaped the town for more than 150 years. The company’s closure left a hole in the community, but also sparked Albany’s legacy of educating people about whaling. The whaling industry was an integral part of Albany’s community and economy for decades, and those who worked on the chasers and at the station can still recall how different the city was when whaling propped it up. Stuart Clements joined the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company when he was 26 years old, and left in 1978, just before the station closed. He was a motor mechanic by trade, and started working with steam engines on the whale chasers, which he said became a “lifelong love”. He remembers his early days aboard the ships fondly. “I remember the first day coming back from being out at sea and getting off the ship onto the jetty,” he said. “One side of the jetty had a railing and one didn’t, and my legs were so wobbly I was scared I was going to fall off the side and end up in the drink. “You got into a routine with shift work, but sometimes it was easier to stay on the ship in between late or early shifts, so sometimes I wouldn’t go home for days at a time even though I only lived 10 minutes around the corner in Lockyer. “There were a few near misses — it was definitely dangerous work, although that’s not something I remember thinking much about at the time. “It was just what you did, you came to work and got on with it. “It was a great workplace and we had plenty of different nationalities. You all had to work together and get on with each other, you didn’t have a choice. “We were either mad or eccentric, I think you had to be a bit of one or the other to work on those boats for any length of time.” Mr Clements worked mainly on the Cheynes II, which now rests as a wreck in Albany’s Princess Royal Harbour after a long working life that included whaling and an ill-fated trip to Antarctica. Outside of whaling, the Cheynes II is also known for its heroic part in a daring rescue off The Gap in 1978. South Australian tourist Stephen Matthews had climbed down the rocks under the Natural Bridge to take photos when a freak wave swept him into the roiling ocean. Emergency services were called, and a collaborative rescue attempt that lasted almost two hours began. Mr Clements recalled that the crew had been on their way back to berth after a day out searching for whales when they got the call and were headed back out. “When you’re in the engine room, not everything is communicated from the top deck with much context,” he said. “We knew we were headed back out, but we didn’t know why. “We had no idea we were going on a rescue.” The chaser circled back around the peninsula and followed the directions of police on land, and spotter pilot John Bell, who was circling the scene from above, searching for the missing man. “The communications were something to behold,” Mr Clements said. “They had police at The Gap, and police up on Stony Hill, and they were on the radios communicating with the spotter plane and then connecting back to us.” By the time the chaser got to the scene it was after dark, and so the crew decided to shut down the engine and turn the radios off to try to hear the man in the water. Eventually they did, and were able to train a searchlight on him. First mate Keith Richardson grabbed a lifeline and jumped overboard to reach him, while skipper Paddy Hart held the ship against the swell. Mr Matthews was brought safely aboard and taken to hospital, and the crew celebrated a heroic rescue pulled off in a race against the clock. Mr Clements said those working in the engine room almost missed the excitement of what the crew had pulled off. “It takes 25 or 30 minutes to take the engine apart and get everything ready for the next outing, so by the time we’d come out, everyone else had already left and gone to the pub to celebrate their success, and we still didn’t know what happened!” The closure of the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company was announced on July 31, 1978, on the opening day of a national inquiry into whaling. The announcement by the company’s executive director John Saleeba came amidst protests in Albany and around Australia against whaling. It marked a sad day for many in Albany, and Mr Clements said there was a strong feeling of sadness and some anger among those who were still employed at the whaling station when the closure was announced. However, he said over time opinions had changed, and said he had come to admire those who put themselves on the line to make their opinions heard. “I was dismayed myself at the time, I think everyone was,” he said. “These things always come down to cost, in the end, and the cost of fuel was crippling. “They are a business after all, and when it wasn’t sustainable to keep it going they had to shut it down. “It was a hard time for a lot of people in Albany, absolutely, but in hindsight, it was of course the right thing to do, and I think most of us who had jobs in the industry have come to understand that.”