Like many towns close to the migratory paths of whales, Eden was once a whaling town.
But this whaling history is unique in that it is the only place where wild killer whales were known to work with the whalers and assist them with the hunt.
The best known of the local killer whales was Tom, a large dominant male who led one of the local packs. Whenever the killer whale pack found a baleen whale the pack would split - some staying with the whale while others rushed to the mouth of the Kiah River where the whaling boats were based. They would make a display of tail slapping and alert the whalers. It is rumoured that when the boat was under way Tom would often take a rope in his teeth and tow the whalers to meet the cornered baleen whale.
When the whale had been slaughtered the whalers would cut out choice delicacies for the killer whales before processing of the carcass.

Many years later, at the end of the whaling era old Tom's body was found in Twofold Bay. His death saddened the town and his skeleton is now preserved in the Eden Killer Whale Museum.
It is possible to see where several of his teeth have been worn through from towing the rope.

While we are eternally thankful that whaling in Twofold Bay has ended we like to think that some of the killer whales in these photos might be old Tom's descendants...

In the mouth of the Kiah River

THe great, tall fin of a male Orca