Rob Banfield holds the single pearl the previous tour group just uncovered, rolling it gently between his fingertips, and declares that it is worth $11,900. He’s an understated character but you can see the excitement of this discovery in his twinkling eyes. Soon, our group will also open up an oyster to see if there’s a pearl inside and potentially how much it’s worth. I’m a bit anxious that Rob now has high expectations.
Rob and his family own and operate Willie Creek Pearl Farm, one of the main pearling companies around Broome in Western Australia’s north. For a town founded because of pearling, there aren’t too many tourist experiences directly related to the industry these days, but a visit to Willie Creek is the perfect way to see how it’s done now.
“It’s a fascinating industry,” Mr Banfield tells me. “The fact that the ocean can produce a gem, and it’s the only gem produced by a living organism. We get excited at harvest time, we don’t know what’s in each oyster coming up.”
But this excitement is one of the reasons Mr Banfield invites people to visit Willie Creek Pearl Farm, which has comfortable tourism infrastructure for the groups that arrive here regularly. We are met first by guide Lisa Stockman, who leads us through an introductory presentation, anticipating all the questions I have – especially how you base a whole business on what I thought was a rare occurrence of an oyster creating a pearl.
“An oyster is not going to just produce a pearl,” Ms Stockman explains. “So what we’ll do now is what we call ‘cultured pearling’, which means we’re placing an object inside it.”
This small spherical object, carefully and surgically implanted in the flesh of the creature, plays the part of the debris or parasite that might get lodged between the shells in nature. When the oysters are placed back into the water, they start to cover the foreign object with a calcium carbonate substance that becomes a pearl.
Just metres from where we arrived is Willie Creek… although the name is quite misleading. This ‘creek’ is about 300 metres wide and right now it’s filling up with millions of litres of water each second as the tide rushes in. The tides around Broome are legendary and sometimes differ by up to 10 metres during the day. They can bring a nasty surprise to people who park their car too close to shore (apparently up to 30 are lost in Broome each year), but they also wash in an abundance of nutrients for the oysters to feed on – one of the main reasons that the pearls produced here are so famous.
“For us to be able to produce the biggest and the best pearls in the world is pretty exciting for a small, little country town like Broome,” Mr Banfield says proudly.
When pearling began around Broome in the 1880s, the focus was mother of pearl, the iridescent inner shell of the oysters used for products like buttons and fine cutlery. It was a profitable (although often cruel and dangerous) industry until the middle of the twentieth century when the invention of plastic buttons and the outbreak of war saw its collapse.
These days, there are lots of ways to explore this heritage in Broome, including the local museum and guided walks of the town. Or there’s the Pearl Luggers Tour, also run by Willie Creek Pearls, with historical exhibitions and boats in the centre of town.
But make the effort to go 40 minutes along the red dirt roads to the farm, and you’ll be able to go out on a boat into the creek to see the oysters pulled from the water and learn more about the modern techniques.
And you’ll be able to see the opening of an oyster from the farm and the reveal of what’s inside. Our guide, Ms Stockman, does the work while we all watch on in suspense, the figure of $11,900 from the previous group still ringing in my mind.
Ms Stockman opens the shells and there’s a pearl inside. Mr Banfield collects it and takes it away to be weighed, measured and evaluated. Am I sweating because of the 40-degree heat or the anticipation?
Mr Banfield returns and reveals our pearl is worth $900. He, like us, seems a bit disappointed but points out that’s still the average price.
The tour, however, is not a disappointment and I thank Mr Banfield, explaining that he has opened my eyes to an industry that seems so much harder work than I realised.
“We’re just telling the story of the commercial farming in Broome,” Mr Banfield replies. “If that comes across as hard work, great, because it is.”
True, but it’s work that produces gems every day.
Take me there
Fly: Qantas flies direct to Broome from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Virgin Australia flights connect through Perth.
Price: The Willie Creek Pearl Farm tour is $75 per adult, not including transfers from Broome.
Stay: Oaks Cable Beach Resort has five pools and easy access to Broome’s sights
Explore more: williecreekpearls.com.au
