Ron Ahl recently sent us details of when he worked at Marineland just before it opened back in 1969: –
“As a boy of 15 or 16, I worked at Marineland back in 1969, just before it opened.
As I said, I have quite a few stories about my time at Marineland, including how they caught dolphins, disposed of a couple of troublesome Wobbegong sharks and the burial site for fatalities.
Incidentally, I may have been involved with the capture of (the dolphin) “Nipper”. I can’t be sure though, as I left before he had been given a name.
Attached is a chapter from a book that I’ve been working on for many years, (I better finish it before I turn up my toes) called, “Memories and Misadventures”: –
“MEMORIES AND MISADVENTURES”
Working at Marineland. This boy’s adventure Part 1
When I was 15 or 16, one of the jobs I had, was assistant to the trainer, as a feeder, cleaner and general roustabout, at Marineland on Military Road, West Beach, South Aussie. That would have been late in 1969 or early 1970, in any case, just before the official opening.
What a great place to work for a young guy into his fishing. The owner at the time, before the S.A. government got involved, was a fella by the name of Jack Boss. From memory, he owned a joinery place in Brisbane, incidentally, where he manufactured the massive, laminated timber beams, spanning the entire width of the main building, and supporting the rather large arched roof.”
Ron says that Jack had a daughter around 17 years of age who later had to rescue and treat him. More on this later.
“One of the interesting jobs I helped with, was building a large sand filter to clean up the water for all the tanks and pools in the place. Filtering that huge quantity of water, to get anything close to good viewing in the main pool and tank, was always a problem. I suppose there wasn’t too much appropriate expertise available here in Australia at the time.
Another problem they had with this system, was quietening down the large diesel engine they used to pump the sea water in, around, and back out, as required. Being right next to the main building, it was too noisy, and something had to be done. The solution in the end, was to bury a 44-gallon drum with engine pipe plumbed in, and a tall pipe, or stack, complete with flapper, out. I think they were a little disappointed with the result, but it did seem quieter.
Indoors, there was the main viewing tank, with its first floor walk around area, so you could look into the top of the tank and down on the fish, etc.. Of course, it had windows in the sides, under the walk around deck, to allow good viewing below the surface at ground level. West of the viewing tank, or towards the sea, there were two pools, the large, main pool, and a smaller one West of that again. Right at the Western end of the building, behind the small pool, was a good-sized room with a benched food prep area and access to one or two large cool rooms / freezers.”
Ron then went on to describe his love of fishing and how his bait supplies were endless and free in those days. He had permission to use what he needed from the plentiful supply of bottle squid, prawns, mullet, mackerel, tuna, tommy ruffs, etc..
“Anyway, back to Marineland. One day Jack’s mate, a cray fisherman, brought along a large trailer mounted water tank. In it he had quite a number of large Snapper, maybe 15 in all.
These were quickly put in the main viewing tank, as the obvious lack of oxygen in their travelling water, was really beginning to show. The next morning, due either to lack of oxygen, or the sudden temperature change when placed into the main tank, a goodly number of the Snapper were dead, either floating on the surface or laying on the bottom.
Using a long pole gaff, I fished them out from the surface of the tank. Then, using a smaller 4-foot-long gaff, I hooked the fish through the middle of the jaw, with the hook pointing upwards, I then hoisted the gaff over my shoulder so that, nose up, the fishes back was facing my back. Big mistake.”
Ron then detailed how he ended up with some fish dorsal spines in the top of his butt cheek and he had to be rescued and treated by the boss’ daughter.
(Our thanks go to Ron for the above details about The Early Days Before Marineland Opened)