Cheynes Beach was the last operating whale chasing station in Australia when it closed in 1978. Today the site preserves the entire operation: the Cheynes IV whale chaser — the last of its kind still afloat — sits in dry dock alongside the blubber-processing deck, the boiling-down shed, and the old workers' quarters. A film about the final days of Australian whaling plays in the cinema, and the exhibition covers the natural history of the whales hunted here: mostly Sperm and Humpback. For anyone who has watched a humpback breach in the sound, standing on the flensing deck is a sobering counterpoint.
story: "On 20 November 1978, the Cheynes IV brought in what would be the last whale ever processed in Australia — a Sperm whale. The crew only learned later that the industry was about to be shut down. Within months, the International Whaling Commission had effectively ended Australian commercial whaling, and the station was turned into a museum."