Five generations of Heberleys hunted whales. The last two were Charlie Heberley and his son Joe who worked at the Perano whaling station at the entrance to Tory Channel. In the sound clip they recall the excitement and danger of those days.

The image from June 1952 shows workers at the Perano station cutting up a whale after it has been caught and brought to the factory. The blubber was boiled down and usually produced about 36 44-gallon drums of oil, which was exported to Australia for use in tanning.

Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero (Spectrum 918 - the last of the whale hunters/Reference number CDR1071)