whale watching

Proposed site for whaling station, Tangalooma, 1952. This map shows the location of the proposed Tangalooma whaling station to be built on Moreton Island. At a closer scale of 50 feet to one inch, the inset in the top right corner shows the proposed jetty. Surveyed by A.H. Krummel, it shows the water depths which extend out into Moreton Bay. These were measured in feet taken at low water datum. Chosen by the Australian Company Whale Products Pty Ltd, Tangalooma became the site of the largest whaling station in the southern hemisphere. It was selected for four main reasons: the site was sheltered from the ocean, it had a large supply of fresh water, it was on the migratory path of the Humpback whale and it was close to Brisbane. The first two humpback whales were killed in June 1952, but within ten years the whale population had been severely depleted and the station closed. In June 1963, the station was bought by property developers and turned into a resort where tourists now leave from the jetty on whale watching tours. Collection of the Queensland State Archives