Long Beach’s extraordinary whale bone bench no urban legend

Although this scene at Long Beach, on the northern shores of Batemans Bay, is one repeated every sunny summer weekend, you can guarantee most, if not all, of these regular beachgoers are completely oblivious to a long forgotten natural feature that once took pride of place here.

From 1942 until at least 1960, a four-metre-long whale jaw bone sat prominently in the grassy dunes near the western end of the beach. It provided a unique bench-style seat for both locals and the occasional adventurous tourist.

Now, while a bone bench is unusual in its own right, if local legend is to be believed, its remarkable origins make it one of the most extraordinary coastal chairs in the entire country.

Apparently the ''seat'' was the jaw bone of a whale that, wait for it, was accidentally bombed by the RAAF during World War II when pilots mistook it for a raiding Japanese submarine. Really!

If you think this tale sounds far-fetched, then join the club. When a photo of the bone bench along with a brief blurb outlining its seemingly spurious origins recently featured on the Long Beach Community Association's Facebook page, I immediately checked if it was April Fool’s Day.

It wasn't.

Always keen to uncover the truth, your akubra-clad columnist tracked down Evan Holt, an amateur historian who, in the mid-1980s, after moving to Long Beach and hearing the story for the first time, embarked on a similar mission to confirm the seat's peculiar pedigree.

"I spoke to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) History Unit based in Russell in the ACT and they confirmed it all … that it definitely wasn't a Japanese submarine that the RAAF bombed, rather an unfortunate whale swimming off the nearby coast," said Holt, who promptly prepared a comprehensive report on his findings for the Batemans Bay Historical Society.

Unfortunately Holt's findings vanished when several years ago his report was unintentionally tossed out during a clean-out of the society's records. I know what you're thinking, this is starting to sound more and more like an urban legend. Stick with me.

Not wanting to sift through tonnes of decaying fish and chip wrappers and other rubbish at the Batemans Bay tip in search of Holt's missing files, I promptly despatched my own request to the Directorate of History - Air Force in Canberra.

Earlier this week, the return missive from RAAF Historian Martin James lobbed into my inbox. It read: "A search of the records of RAAF units known to be based and used for anti-submarine patrols along the south eastern coast of Australia has not brought up any record of a bombing of a whale."

Aha, so it was a legend after all? But then I read on.

"However, one of our researchers was able to locate a narrative reference to a whale attack in the Batemans Bay area on the 22nd of July 1942 in John Lever's book, No.6 OTU, Base Torpedo Unit, and R.A.A.F. Beaufort Torpedo Operations," James said.

According to the book, the crew of a Beaufort A9-20 captained by a Flying Officer Schlank had seen the US ''Liberty'' ship William Dawes burning just south of Batemans Bay and starting to sink. In response, Schlank's men dropped messages to the crew of the vessel informing them that help was on the way, then remained to overwatch and report back the situation.

However, during this time "a submarine was spotted and attacked with depth chargers". The crew saw oil come to the surface. However, as Lever details, "The next day two Navy Intelligence Officers interviewed the crew and "the verdict was that a whale had been mistaken for a submarine".

So a whale swimming near Batemans Bay was in fact mistaken for a Japanese submarine in 1942 and bombed, but was it the same marine mammal whose bones washed up on Long Beach? Without any written record, we can only rely on anecdotal evidence to unravel this final part of the puzzle.

Firstly there's Holt's recollections of his research. "Weeks after the accidental bombing, the body of a large whale washed up at the west end of Long Beach, said Holt. "Any long-time local will tell you it was one of the best years for fishing as the whale was stuck in the shallows on the beach, attracting all sorts of feeding fish."

Then there's Malcolm Morgan, who along with the whale bone appears in the aforementioned circa-1951 photo with his sister Maree, mother Lorna, and their family's Humbug Volta.

Morgan, who now splits his time between Sydney and the coast, said, "When my family first settled [at] that part of Long Beach in 1949, all the locals mentioned the origins of the whale."In fact, according to Morgan, other parts of the whale's skeleton were also innovatively used.

"There was a lot of vertebrae still on the beach, they were excellent for sitting around the campfire for stools", Morgan said. "At one point there were ribs of the whale at Birdland and some other parts of the skeleton on display at the [now closed] Lobster Pot restaurant".

Morgan believes "the seat is actually the jaw bone of a Southern Right Whale, which is so-named as they were the 'right' whale to catch because it had the 'right' amount of oil and it floated when dead."

"Once bombed it would have floated to the surface and then been brought into the bay by wind and tide," Morgan said.

So where is the bone bench now?

"It disappeared many years ago, probably in the 1960s, someone grabbed it, I'd say," laments Morgan. "It could be anywhere now."

Someone must know its whereabouts, a four-metre-long whale bone can't just disappear, can it?

In the meantime, if you are among those who make regular pilgrimages to Long Beach, next time you unfold your beach chair you may wish to consider the curious connection this stretch of sand has with World War II.

Just don't tell Greenpeace.

Long Beach: Located about 11 kilometres north-east of Batemans Bay.

William Dawes: The steel US ''Liberty'' ship William Dawes was sunk by torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine near Tathra on July 22, 1942. Five lives were lost in the attack.

Did You Know? At least 19 ships were sunk by enemy torpedoes, shells or mines off the NSW coast 1942-1944. According to the Australian Government ''Historic Shipwrecks Program'', "a further 10 were damaged but managed to limp into port for repairs … and approximately 150 crew were killed in these attacks and the wreck sites today can form war graves."

Another whale seat: Several years ago Sam Bright of Tanja stumbled upon this humpback whale skull (below) on a remote stretch of Mimosa National Park near Tathra.

"The part of the skull left by the hinge of the lower jaw made for a perfect double seat," reports Bright. However unlike its Long Beach counterpart, this seat has no connection with any accidental bombings. "This poor fella probably just died of natural causes," Bright said.