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Collections WA has a responsibility to preserve and make accessible the history and culture of Western Australia in all its various forms. The intention of Collections WA is to support research, and to reveal actions of the past that have impacted upon communities, families, and individuals.
In doing so, Collections WA acknowledges the need to respond sensitively and appropriately in cases when accessing this material may be confronting to Aboriginal visitors and clients.
Please also note: Some historical materials within this portal may include language or opinions that today are considered inappropriate or even offensive. Collections WA does not endorse this language and apologises for any distress caused.
Wearing rubber boots with metal cleats on them, the flenser would walk up over the whale’s body, using the sharp knife blade to cut into the meat. As one of the flensers said, ‘It’s a dangerous sport. The hardest part was trying to keep your knife sharp. If it wasn’t sharp you could work all day and go nowhere’.
