The
killers of Eden or
Twofold Bay killers[1] were a group of
killer whales (
Orcinus orca) known for their co-operation with human
whalers. They were seen near the port of
Eden in southeastern Australia between 1840 and 1930. A pod of killer whales, which included amongst its members a distinctive male called
Old Tom, would assist whalers in hunting
baleen whales.
[2][3] The killer whales would find target whales, shepherd them into
Twofold Bay or neighbouring regions of coast, and then often swim many kilometres away from the location of the hunt to alert the whalers at their cottage to their presence and often help to kill the whales.
...
While collaborative hunting associations between
dolphins and humans occur in many traditional fishing communities, they are rare between killer whales and humans, and particularly Western cultures. Zoologist and historian
Danielle Clode describes how the pre-existing cultural and spiritual connection between the Indigenous Yuin people and the killer whales of Twofold Bay allowed the unique collaboration between European whalers and killer whales to develop because Indigenous crew on the whale boats refused to allow killer whales to be harmed or killed during whale hunts. Clode's book,
Killers in Eden, documented the historical accounts for this association including observations recorded by early whaling station manager
Oswald Brierly, anthropologist
Robert Hamilton Mathews and Yuin elder Percy Mumbulla.
[2]
Killer whales of Eden, New South Wales - Wikipedia
