Charles Benson interviewed by Gregg Borschmann in the Environmental awareness in Australia oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 940683
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Benson, Charles, 1913-, interviewee
- Access Conditions:
- Written permission required from Gregg Borschmann for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2003
- 1 digital audio tape (ca. 65 min.)
- Series:
- Environmental awareness in Australia oral history project.
- Summary:
-
Charles Benson, a retired fisherman, recalls his family background; his grandfather's skill as a shipwright & ironworker at the Gotenberg shipyards in Sweden, skills passed on to his son (Benson's father); his father's work as a sawmiller in Denmark (W.A.), on the Denmark to Normalup railway, as a market gardener; father & sons working in the timber industry before turning to fishing the fresh water estuaries of the Bow River (W.A.); the more profitable fish markets being in Kalgoolie rather than Perth; the different types of boats father & sons built to fish the estuaries & open sea; the destruction of the karri forrests (near Denmark,W.A.) and the over use of superphosphate to fertilize the lands for the production of butter, resulting in the destruction of the local fishing industry.
Benson recalls his war service during WWII, being on coast guard duty on the West Australian coast for submarines, then joining the Army Small Ships fleet as skipper of a landing craft docked in Darwin, N.T.; after the war his job at the local sawmill near Denmark, milling fruit cases & felling karri & jarrah trees, a skill he had learnt from his father as a 17 year old on the Denmark to Normalup railway; Norwegian whaling operations at Albany, W.A. before WWI and their recommencement after WWII; the family fishing business after WWII.
- Notes:
-
- Recorded on May 30, 2003 at Esperance, W. A.
- Digital master available National Library of Australia
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Detailed summary (2 p.)
- Subject:
-
- Benson, Charles, 1913- -- Interviews
- Fishers -- Western Australia -- Esperance -- Interviews
- Deforestation -- Western Australia -- South West -- History
- Estuarine fisheries -- Western Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Fisheries -- Western Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Lumber trade -- Western Australia -- History -- 20th century
- Occupation:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Borschmann, Gregg (Gregg John), 1955-, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Environmental awareness in Australia oral history project.
This collection contains 47 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
Contact us for information about copying. For access conditions return to the record display above.
- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2073 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2003
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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