Ben Boyd came to Australia in 1842 to make his fortune, and he did—until his financial ruin, when he took off to California at the time of the gold rush. He ran a whaling business in Eden (“A Natural Paradise,” as it describes itself) and he had a big sheep station inland. He exported his wool through Eden, which he helped to develop as a port. It has an extensive deepwater harbour. His name is now memorialized in the Ben Boyd National Park, which covers many miles of coastline to the north and south of Eden.
On a headland in the southern section of the Park is Boyd's Tower, a tall square building that you would guess is a lighthouse. It is built with large blocks of stone, and a lot of superfluous stone still lies around the tower. It was used by Ben Boyd’s men as a lookout for whales. They kept watch from the top of the tower and fired a gun when whales were spotted. The shore-based whalers—six oarsmen and a harpooner, mostly aborigines---rushed to their boats and rowed frantically out to intercept the whales.
Here are two views of the tower, which also provide a sense of the coastline.
Off-shore whaling from Eden began in 1828—started by one Thomas Raine. Another off-shore whaling enterprise was run by the Davidson family for many generations, and that continued until 1929.
The rocks on the coastline vary from red to green and in-between. Here are two pockmarked rocks of different colours.
Wildlife is abundant in the Park. “There’s someone coming,” said Joan as we hiked through the bush, and then “Oh, it’s a kangaroo.”
There are a lot of large lizards—big, Godzilla types. One we disturbed (a smaller one than others we saw) ran up a tree, and froze, relying on his camouflage for protection.
The photos show you how that camouflage works. Look carefully and you can make him or her out.
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