Eyewitness: Whale Tales
Eyewitness: Whale Tales
Category: Other
| Title | Eyewitness: Whale Tales |
|---|---|
| Year | 2014 |
| Publisher | RNZ |
| Language | English |
| Geographic reference | Picton, Cook Strait |
| Time reference | 1980s to 1960s |
| Online resource | Yes |
| Topic | Italian fishermen, Italian whalers, Perano family, liguri in Nuova Zelanda, Ligurian immigrants, sardine fishing |
From RNZ: the history of the end of New Zealand whaling, and also a good account of the history or the Perano family, with photos.
Agostino Perano was born in Italy in 1850. After making his way to New Zealand via America, Agostino married and eventually settled in Picton with his wife about 1885. He developed a successful sardine fishing and processing business which employed many of his 11 children, including son Joseph Perano.
About 1904, while Joe Perano was fishing in Cook Strait, a pair of humpback whales suddenly rose up on either side of his boat, almost lifting the oars out of the rowlocks. Determined to “get even” for the incident, Joe began whaling out of Tory Channel in the winter of 1911.
Joe initially based himself out of Yellerton Bay in Tory Channel but moved to Tipi Bay, where his brother Charlie continued to operate until about 1928 when Joe took over the station. In the meantime, however, Joe had established another whaling station at Fishing Bay on Arapawa Island and it is here that Joe and his fleet created a small whale-processing plant and worked under the license of J. A. Perano and Company.
When Joe Perano passed away in 1951 at the age of 74, he had been whaling out of Tory Channel for 40 years. His sons Joseph (Joe) Jnr and Gilbert Perano carried on running the business for another 13 years. In 1958 Joe Jnr’s son Peter joined the fleet, marking the third generation of the Perano family to take up whaling.
More about the Perano family:
The Perano whalers of Cook Strait, 1911-1964
Memories of the Perano Family
Getting the family back together ... all 1000 of them
Perano, Joseph August- Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
The Perano Whalers
Marlborough Sounds Whaling
Perano Whaling Station
