Sunday – March 16, 2025
The structure in today’s post is Boyd’s Tower. It is located on a point of Twofold Bay near Eden, Australia. Who, you may ask, is Old Tom? He was a 22 foot orca whale. What does he have to do with Boyd’s Tower? Well…the tower was built by Ben Boyd who ran many businesses in the Eden area and those businesses included whaling. Men would stand in the openings of the tower and be on the lookout for whales as they passed that point. That information would be relayed to the whalers on the water. How does Old Tom fit into this? Tom was a leader of a pod of orcas that would circle around humpback whales allowing the men to capture and kill them. Tom’s reward was to eat the lips and tongue of the captured whales. This arrangement was called the Law of the Tongue. Click on the link to learn more or do a Google search. Whaling once was an important source of income for the people surrounding Eden but it has been replaced by forestry. Old Tom’s skeleton is on display in the Eden Killer Whale Museum.
Our guide for today’s excursion is Jules. She is a ranger with the National Park system. We will be going to Beowa National Park (formerly Boyd National Park) to view a tower built by the rich and powerful Scottish man named Benjamin Boyd. Here is some background info on Ben. The reason for the name change of the park is that Mr. Boyd was involved in “blackbirding” for his businesses – using islanders for labor in circumstances like slavery. The name of the park was changed to an indigenous name – “Beowa” – recently in light of Boyd’s questionable treatment of people.
The bay in which we are docked – Twofold Bay – is the 3rd largest in Australia but the city in which we docked – Eden – is nowhere near the 3rd largest by population. Eden’s population is less than the number of passengers on MSC Magnifica. Boyd tried to set Eden as Australia’s capital but those plans never materialized.
The land surrounding Eden is heavily forested and has been subject to fires. Jules explained that the most recent fire of substance was in 2020. It burned many of the taller trees – primarily Melaleuca – and exposed the ground cover that grew beneath them. As we looked at one of the burn sites today 5 years after the fire that stated the first week of January, you could see the resurgence of the Melaleucas. They have reached 7 feet in 5 years and are a fast growing species. Included in some of the photos you can see charred wood from that fire.
As we made our way down the walkway to Boyd’s Tower Jules discussed other plant life and animals you might find in the park. We didn’t see any animals but we did see some interesting colored rock on the shore. The red hue to the rock is due to the presence of iron in the soil – not enough to mine but enough to make the rock stand out.
As explained earlier, Boyd built the tower as an aid to whaling. In the media there is a photo that shows how men were positioned in the openings of the tower as “spotters” for the whalers below them. There were other whaling companies in the area but Boyd would not let them use his tower. Eventually Boyd went bankrupt and the tower fell into disrepair. After several accidents inside on the rotted wood the Australian Park Service removed that wood and replaced it with beams to increase the strength of the tower. You’ll also notice that the tower suffered a lightening strike on one of the corners at the top.
After spending an hour and a half to two hours walking to and from Boyd’s Tower we boarded the bus to travel to a spot in Eden overlooking Twofold Bay. The spot is called Eden Lookout and it was a perfect place for us to scout for life in the water. We were not disappointed. A pod of dolphins numbering between 7 and 12 swam by us on their way to the Tasman Sea. We were able to get some photos and video as they made their way out of Twofold Bay. This was the first time on this journey we have seen a group of dolphins and it was unfortunate we had to leave the lookout before the dolphins were out of view.
We didn’t have anything planned for the remainder of the afternoon so there is nothing to report until dinner – with a few photos of menu items we chose.
The entertainment for this evening was by a man named John Thiering. He produced sand art drawings that were projected on a large screen in the theatre. Thanks to Kelsey for the video and photos she took of John’s work.
Tomorrow – St. Patrick’s Day – we have a day at sea which means there will be a World Cruise game so stay tuned.
One response to “Old Tom”
Sunrise was gorgeous. The tower reminded me of the shot tower min Dubuque. Not a hen leg but a rooster chicken leg??? What a day trip. So much to see. The sand art unique.