Geoscience Reference
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clams growing 'to a length of ten feet and a weight of a ton' - and ate some of the
smaller ones (Bedford, 1928; Christesen, 1936, p31). In October 1844, Joseph
Beete Jukes (1871, p234) wrote: 'I then determined to live ashore to arrange my
shells'; and in 1872, C. H. Eden (1872, p294) stated:
There was a beautiful little island called Garden Island, to which the
inhabitants of Cardwell used to resort for oyster picnics, and where a great
number of cowries of all sizes could be found by turning over the stones at
low water.
Bartley (1892, pp218-19) referred to the practice of collecting Australian
marine shells, especially different Conus species, and he stated that Cypraea are
'walked off' from the beaches of eastern Australia. Agassiz (1898, p107), who
visited the Great Barrier Reef in 1896, reported that at Stone Island reef, near
Bowen, 'the bottom of the bay is covered with fine mud and broken shells',
although that damage may have been due to the tropical cyclone that struck Port
Denison (now Bowen) on 30 January 1884; further north, Agassiz (1898, p115)
wrote: 'We were struck with the great number of dead Nautilus and Spirula shells
thrown up on the sand beaches of the Three and Two Isles groups', and by the
abundance of dead cuttlefish bones that were associated with these shells. By the
end of the nineteenth century, therefore, these records suggest that European
explorers and settlers had made observations of shelled organisms and had
collected many specimens.
The impacts of shell collecting intensified during the twentieth century
as more collectors worked the reefs and as more locations became accessible
to tourists, commercial collectors and shell clubs. The destruction of shell
populations and other marine life at Green Island as a result of tourists taking
souvenirs, for example, was reported as early as 1929; as tourist resorts developed,
the difficulty in preventing increasing numbers of visitors from souveniring shells
became apparent . 23 Describing a cruise in the Great Barrier Reef in the early
1930s, Hughes (1937, pp5, 27) reported shell collecting on Langford Island reef
flat, and at Redbill Island reef he stated: 'Great slabs of dead coral were overturned
and their undersides scanned for the pretty cowrie shells nestling in the crevices';
Redbill Island reef also produced 'a rich harvest' of spider shells. In 1930, Barrett
(1930, pp378, 380) wrote: 'Combing the reef for shells is a delightful recreation'.
However, the activities of shell collectors generated opposition as well as
enthusiasm; during the 1930s, some individuals advocated regulating the activity
and prohibiting shell collecting at some locations. One area about which concern
was expressed was the Molle Islands, in the Whitsunday Group, where the lessee,
H. G. Lamond, requested the Queensland Government to restrict the taking of
shells, for he stated: 'The trouble as I see it - and I have taken particular note
- is not what the people take and preserve. It is what they damage in getting
specimens' . 24 In 1938, E. O. Marks, the Honorary Secretary of the GBRC,
expressed anxiety about 'the harm which must result from promiscuous gathering
 
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