Wedding Cake

Craft

A convict’s wedding gift

As you admire the elaborate design and workmanship of this tiered, shell wedding cake you may be surprised to learn it was fashioned by the hands of a convict. William ‘Crabbie’ Davis (1843 - 1920) made the shell-cake as a wedding gift to one of his 11 children. The former Englishmen was convicted of arson in 1842 and sent to the WA colony as a convict to serve out his 10-year sentence. He earned his nick-name ‘Crabbie’ as a ticket-of-leave man on Rottnest, after being caught for the punishable offence of fishing. He argued he was not fishing but crabbing! Crabbie went on to earn a living from fishing from his dingy and selling his catch on the streets of Geraldton. He was the great grandfather of former WA premier Dr Geoff Gallop.

Available at:

Museum of Geraldton

Harbourside museum showcasing rich shipwreck history

From its enviable position sprawled along the waters of the Batavia Coast Marina, the Museum of Geraldton paints a picture of the region’s colourful past - from its rich Indigenous heritage through to...

Address:

2 Museum Pl
Geraldton WA 6530
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9431 8393

Email:

reception@museum.wa.gov.au

Open Hours

7 days 9.30am - 3pm. Closed public holidays

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Tobacco tin

Tobacco tin survives Dutch shipwreck

In 1727 the Dutch East Indies ship Zeewijk ran aground at the Houtman Abrolhos Islands causing the surviving crew to scramble to a nearby island where they fought to save the ship’s treasure chests...

Batavia Road model

A creative fisherman’s handiwork

For three months every year rock lobster fishermen and their families would head to the low-lying windswept Houtman Abrolhos Islands for the fishing season, where they lived in basic shacks, sent...