ABSTRACT

The history of industrial whaling in Oceania, along with crucial moments in the diplomatic histories of Australia and New Zealand, sometimes turned on questions of whale behaviour. So did individual human lives. This article puts together the histories of whale communities and the history of cetacean science in order to unravel the meaning of some key moments in the environmental history of the South Pacific, including Oceanian attempts to increase their share of post-war whaling and the subsequent great humpback whale collapse of 1960–62. In the middle of these histories were the efforts of cetologist Bill Dawbin to understand humpback whale migrations in the late 1950s. Interwoven throughout was the crucial fact of humpback whales’ historical split into several different populations and their migratory choices, and the difficulties humans face in understanding these complex and mobile creatures.

摘要

大洋洲的工业捕鲸史，以及澳大利亚和新西兰的外交史上的关键时刻，有时会引起鲸鱼行为问题。人类的个人生活也是如此。本文将鲸鱼群落的历史和鲸类科学的历史放在一起，以阐明南太平洋环境历史中一些关键时刻的含义，包括大洋洲试图增加战后捕鲸所占份额以及随后发生的巨大捕鲸事件的尝试。 1960–62年的座头鲸崩溃。在这些历史的中间，鲸鱼学家比尔·道宾（Bill Dawbin）为了解1950年代后期座头鲸的迁徙所做的努力。座头鲸的历史被分为几个不同的种群及其迁徙选择，整个过程交织在一起是至关重要的事实，