WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

In summary, the pearling industry of the west Kimberley does not demonstrate
outstanding heritage value to the nation in comparison with other industries under
criterion (a) for its importance in the course or pattern of Australia's history in relation
to the operation or development of the White Australia Policy.
Communications history
In relation to Broome's communications history the cable station and telegraph link to
Java has also been assessed for potential National Heritage values.
In 1889 a new telegraph cable was laid between Java and Roebuck Bay. The cable
ship Seine laid the cable in 10 days between Banjoewangie, Java and Broome, a
distance of 1,650km. The cable was laid to the beach now known as Cable Beach and
linked Broome directly with England via Singapore, India, Aden, Egypt, Malta and
Gibraltar.
At this time two cables already linked Java to Australia via Darwin. The Broome
Cable Station and the government owned telegraph station in Broome opened at the
same time. As a result Broome was able to have direct communication with Asia,
Britain and cities throughout Australia. Messages from Perth were now routed
through Broome direct, rather than via Darwin or Adelaide. In 1912 the Cable Station
was transferred to Cottesloe near Fremantle in Western Australia. The original
Broome cable station building was converted for use as a court house in 1921.
This engineering and telecommunications achievement can be compared to the
construction and national impact of the overland telegraph line between Darwin and
Port Augusta in South Australia which was completed in 1872. This line was built
over a period of almost two years stretching more than 3,000km through harsh and
largely unknown country. Once constructed the line linked Australia to the rest of the
world for the first time and is considered to be a milestone in Australia's
communications history (Register of the National Estate: Place 165; and Australian
Bureau of Statistics 2010).
While important in the history of communications in north-western Australia the
establishment of a communications link between Java and Broome is not sufficiently
compelling to demonstrate an outstanding aspect of history of national significance.
On the basis of current evidence, and in comparison to other historical events,
the west Kimberley does not have outstanding heritage value to the nation under
criterion (a) for its importance in the course or pattern of Australia's economic
and social history, communications history or other history associated with the
White Australia Policy.
CONTACT, CHANGE AND CONTINUITY
European explorers
William Dampier
William Dampier occupies a significant place in the process of changing European
perceptions about Australia. Although the Dutch had been accumulating information
about the coastline and extent of Australia (then known as New Holland) for almost a
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