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NLA News - home May 2004 Volume XIV Number 8
Rare Pearls, Precious Memories
Kuri Bay, Western Australia, c.1956. Courtesy of Paspaley Pearling Company
Kuri Bay, Western Australia, c.1956
Courtesy of Paspaley Pearling Company

As pioneers of one of Australia ’s premier export industries, the Paspaley Pearling Company enjoys a long and colourful history. Paspaley recognises that its future is defined as much by the past as it is by the present. This recognition provided a natural fit for Paspaley to become the major sponsor of the National Library’s Future Memory exhibition.

The Future Memory exhibition also provides an opportunity for Paspaley to share just some of its little-known history—a history that begins with a Greek family fleeing war-torn Europe during World War I and today sees the Paspaley name known around the world as the producers of the world’s finest quality pearls.

When Nicholas Paspaley became a master pearler in the 1930s, it was the mother-of-pearl shell that drove Western Australia’s pearling industry. Broome was the centre of a thriving industry that supplied up to 70 per cent of global demand for the shell, mostly for use as buttons.

Shortly after World War II, the invention of the plastic button changed Australia’s pearling industry forever. Virtually overnight, the pearling fleets were abandoned with many of the traditional luggers simply left to rot on beaches up and down the coast. Nicholas Paspaley, however, was determined to secure the future of his growing pearling business. Knowing of the success that the Japanese had enjoyed with culturing Akoya pearls, he dreamed of culturing South Sea pearls that could match, if not exceed, the quality of the rare natural pearls. Though his dreams were not fulfilled for decades, this was the moment of ‘future memory’ that has defined the Paspaley company and seen it emerge as a world leader in pearl culturing.
The view from the jetty, Paspaley Pearl Farm, Kuri Bay. Courtesy of Paspaley Pearling Company

The view from the jetty, Paspaley Pearl Farm, Kuri Bay
Courtesy of Paspaley Pearling Company

 

Paspaley has contributed archival information about its flagship pearl farm, Kuri Bay, to Future Memory. Founded in 1956, Kuri Bay was Australia’s first South Sea pearl farm, named after
Mr Sakumitsu Kuribayashi of Nippo Pearl, one of the original joint venture partners. Some of the first pearls harvested at Kuri Bay are also on display.

Nick Paspaley, now the Executive Chairman of Paspaley, recently reflected on the extraordinary journey begun by his father some 70 years ago:

When I travel the world and see Paspaley pearls on display in the likes of Tiffany and Cartier, it always takes me back to the isolation of Kuri Bay … and back to reflections on a journey that involves so many years, so many miles and so many memories. These are our rites of passage. I trust that visitors to the exhibition will see all this in the pearls on display. Their beauty really is more than skin deep.

A selection of Paspaley Pearls can be seen in the Future Memory exhibition.

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