Two Fold Bay in the Australian coastal town of Eden NSW is where each year a population of orcas would migrate from Antarctic waters in search of food. Initially the Orcas were written off as a nuisance, always getting in the way of the catch, but attitudes changed when it was learnt the indigenous inhabitants of Eden had been hunting baleen whales in the bay for at least 10,000 years prior to European settlement, and in that time had developed a unique relationship with the orcas.
The Davidson Family occupied Loch Garra homestead and built the try works on the beach below to process the carcasses of the baleen whales. A good season would see around 8 whales successfully processed for their oil, baleen and bone. A special relationship was formed between the Davidson and an Orca named Old Tom. During the early 20th century Old Tom spend almost four decades helping fishermen catch baleen whales off the coast of Australia.
The way it worked was the orcas would track down baleen whales congregating around the mouth of Twofold Bay, and herd them closer to the coast. While the pod trapped the whales in the bay, one of the males would position himself outside the whaling station, and breach and thrash his tail on the water until he’d attracted the whalers' attention. Once the baleen whales were harpooned and hauled up to the whaling station the Orcas were rewarded for their part in the catch and rewarded with the tongue of the whale which became known as the “Law of the Tongue”
Old Tom was said to be the leader of the Two Folds Bay Orca pod and there are many amazing stories told about his interaction with the whalers of Eden and the mutual respect of human and animal. Old Tom eventually lost his teeth and came to his demise starving to death, His body washed up on the shore in 1930, and one of the whalers financed the construction of the Eden Whale Museum, which still holds the bones of Old Tom to this day.
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Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.