The Forgotten Partnership
How Orcas and Humans Once Worked Together
reading time: 6 minutes
1850s: Eden
The sun had just set over the Twofold Bay on the southern coast of New South Wales, Australia. In the port of Eden, bellies had long been filled with supper and beds were being prepared for sleeps embrace, all the while a shadow was making its way to the river mouth, right beside all the sleepy homes. This shadow, by now, right in front of the houses, belongs to a male orca. The orca starts breaching and slapping its tail on the water in a very conspicuous manner. A crowd begins to form outside and men hurrying themselves into boats holding harpoons and ropes. The orca, named Old Tom, has alerted the inhabitants, called the Yuin people.
The men, once in their boats, are led by Old Tom out into the Bay. Through the darkness the men press on, until an explosion of white foam erupts. A humpback whale comes up for a breath and the hunt is on. Old Tom is joined by other Whale Killers, and they herd the whale towards the men. After hurling their harpoons, the orcas would grab onto the ropes leading to the boat and help by pulling the ensnared whale towards the boat. Men would sometimes be knocked into the water by the powerful bodies of the whales, the orcas would then swim around them to protect them from sharks. In one especially touching case one of the members of the Davidsons family, who were very in touch with theses Killer Whales, Jack Davidson, drowned with his two children. The men were said to have searched for his body for a week. Old Tom remained, for this whole time, in one small corner of the bay, where eventually the bodies were found.
The Thuau, part of the Yuin people, believed that when whalers or warriors passed away, their spirits would be reincarnated into Beowas, into killer whales. Men and killer whales were seen as one in the same, as brothers. Beached dolphins were given ritualistic human burials and were thought of as being the spirits of their ancestors. At the end of the hunt the spoils were distributed between man and fish. The orcas would take the meaty lips and tongue, and the whalers would take the rest of the whale to be processed into soap, fuel and leather. This practice was dubbed “The Law of the Tongue”.
This amazing display of a mutualistic symbiotic relationship, an alliance between man and beast, thrived for generations, from the 1840s till the 1910s. A rare partnership in which two species shared resources and benefited from each other’s skill. The men, lacking underwater visuals and echolocation benefited vastly from the orca’s ability for underwater tracking and herding. The hunt of a humpback is no easy feat, even for these killers of whales, humans massively simplified the process and thus a true trust and friendship was formed between these two beings.
The Lost Connection Between Humans and the Ocean
Today, it seems a foreign and strange idea, humans cooperating with nature feels contradictory. Instead of working together we are pushing other species to a bleak future. Overfishing has collapsed entire fish populations; plastic pollution is choking the ocean; climate change is bleaching coral and disrupting ocean currents and whales are struggling to recover from centuries of hunting. The orcas of Twofold Bay have disappeared, the humpback whales they once hunted together with the Thuau are endangered and the people who had befriended these majestic animals, who knew the sea better than anyone, have been silenced. However, the stories of these people can teach us something fundamental about conservation, something that has been lost in the quick-paced nature of modernity. The Thuau saw the ocean as a partner, not as a resource. Yes, they took from the ocean, but they never failed to give back. They respected the orcas’ contribution and ensured that they got their share in the ‘Law’. The Thuau also knew that survival depended on balance and sustainability. Relentlessly hunting whales would ensure less food for orcas. People today see the sea as a resource, we have no respect for all the different animals, big or small.
Join the Mission: Will You Answer the Call?
The ocean isn’t dying, it’s waiting. Waiting for us to remember the balance we once had with her. Just as the Yuin people once had, we must learn instead of working against the sea, to live in harmony with her. The orcas of Twofold Bay might be gone at this hour but the lessons we can learn from them will echo into eternity, it’s not too late to rekindle hearts in a world gone chill.
We can start restoring that lost connection by seeing the ocean as our home. Our health as a species is ultimately dependent on the health of the seas, the lifeblood of our planet. Support marine protected areas like the national parks of lands, the submarine national parks need their buffalo soldiers too. Choose sustainable seafood, it’s on you to learn which fish species are overfished and which are sustainably sourced. Reduce your plastic waste, buy those reusable materials, its not that hard. You can also back this cause by supporting projects that rely on science and technology to restore marine life, think of coral restoration and whale tracking projects. Become an advocate for better protection of marine species; disrespectful and destructive fishing methods like beam trawling should be replaced with less intrusive fishing methods. Be diligent and do your own research, do not just accept what the wider public tells you. Remember, humans can be part of the solution, just like the Yuin people.
This is what The Voyage of Dreams is all about, setting sail across the world to clean beaches, remove plastic waste from vulnerable ecosystems, document the beauty of the oceans, expose the threats it faces and most importantly, inspire a global community to action. We will show you that humans can learn to live in harmony with the planet whilst having a blast! We may not have orcas to guide us anymore, but we have something just as powerful: the ability to choose our own path
If you believe in protecting the ocean and want to be part of this movement for change, here’s how you can act today:
➡ Subscribe to our blog for weekly ocean stories and conservation tips
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➡ Join a cleanup—wherever you are, even if it’s just picking up one piece of trash a day.
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Together, we can sail toward a better future. Are you with us?
🌊 Join the Voyage. Change the World. 🌊
