WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

part of absorbing these cultures' (Hamaguchi 2006). A large mixed-race population of
Asian-Aboriginal descendants identify with Broome as their home and a significant
part of their heritage. This distinct population has become a unique characteristic of
Broome today (Sickert 2003; Zucker 2005). Tourists are drawn to Broome in part
because of this unique character, and for the town's remarkable pearling heritage.
Broome's multicultural heritage is now celebrated through the annual Shinju Matsuri,
or Pearl Festival. Shinju Matsuri is an amalgamation of traditions and festivals of the
Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian communities of Broome. The traditional festivals of
these communities – the Chinese Hung Seng, Japanese O'Bon and the Malaysian
Mederka – were practised during the pearling days exclusively by these communities.
The traditional festivals are now open to the public through Shinju Matsuri (Kaino,
2005).
For the first 20 years of its existence, Shinju Matsuri appealed to the tourist public by
representing an ideal multicultural community, showing an ethnically diverse
community living in racial harmony. It has evolved since then and, for a period while
being chaired by an Aboriginal man of Asian descent, was annually dedicated to each
ethnic group resident in Broome. While the festival incorporates some commercial
elements to attract tourists, it also retains historic characteristics which are valued by
the individual cultural communities within Broome. It has been claimed that the
festival has 'shaped a strong sense of community and the desire of its townspeople –
new and old – to both re-interpret and retain aspects of Broome's traditional culture'
(Kaino 2005).
The pearling industry continues to be important to the Kimberley. There are four
pearling zones in the north-west of Western Australia, of which zone three (the
largest) and the western half of zone four stretch across coastal areas of the west
Kimberley, although the main fishing areas now lie to the region's south. The industry
employs around 500 people, including fishing vessel crew and pearl farm staff (Hart
and Murphy 2007). By 1997, Western Australia produced around 1,575 kilograms of
cultured pearls each year, with an estimated value of $200 million (Muller 1997). The
state is the source of over 90 per cent of Australia's total cultured pearl production
(Muller 2009; Muller 1997). In 2006 and 2007 there were 17 pearling licensees in
Western Australia diving for wild, hatchery-reared and pearl-farmed shells (Hart and
Murphy 2007). Pearl shell carving is an Aboriginal tradition shared by Traditional
Owners across the Kimberley and in other parts of Australia. Pearl shell carving and
incising is also a popular form of Aboriginal art that is internationally well-known
(Akerman et al. 2010). Artist Aubrey Tigan says:
* * * *
'When I do riji I feel good and strong; when I carve the old designs that I saw my
father making I feel connected to my father and grandfather and to my country. Then
they come to me in dreams and tell me what to do; what to carve.
'I want to go back to my country, back to the source, back to the islands where my
grandfather comes from. I want to record all the stories that I know for my children. I
want them to be able to have the same inspiration, the same connection. I want to
show my children so they can learn how to feel strong like I do. It is for them that I
want to do this' (quoted in Akerman et al. 2010).
75