The principal whale fishery on the coast of South Australia is in
Encounter Bay, and has, I believe, of late years proved as advantageous a
speculation to those who have carried it on as could be expected; profits
are of course dependent on contingencies, as the nature of the season and
the number of whales that may visit the coast: but the fishery at
Encounter Bay has certainly been as successful as any other on the coast,
and would have been more so if the ground had not been intruded upon. As
a source of colonial industry, and as a proof of commercial enterprise, I
should regret to see this bold and hardy occupation abandoned. See
Appendix.
From Rosetta Head the line of coast again trends for a short distance to
the west, and forms, together with the opposite shore of Kangaroo Island,
the Backstairs Passage, or eastern entrance into St. Vincent's Gulf, of
which Cape Jervis is the N.W. point. It is here that the more important
navigation of the South Australian seas commences. The line of coast I
have already described is not sufficiently known to be approached by the
stranger without caution, nevertheless the several bays and harbours I
have mentioned may offer better shelter and greater convenience than I am
able to point out.
One of the first establishments, if not the very first, of the South
Australian Company was on Kangaroo Island, on the shores of Nepean Bay.
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