Cheyne Beach Whaling Station, Maritime heritage site in Frenchman Bay, Western Australia

Cheyne Beach Whaling Station is a former whaling facility on the shore of King George Sound, south of Albany in Western Australia. The buildings, made of steel, concrete, and timber, run along a natural rock slope and still house the original equipment from the working years.

The station opened in 1952 and operated as Australia's last commercial whaling facility until it closed in 1978. Its history reflects the gradual end of an industry that had shaped the coastal region around Albany for decades.

The station takes its name from Cheynes Beach, a settlement about 65 kilometres east of Albany, named after the whaler and settler George McCartney Cheyne. The Cheynes Beach Whaling Company was formed by a syndicate of eight fishermen headed by G. R. Birss and C. Westerberg. In 1977 and 1978, Greenpeace activists in Zodiac boats placed themselves between the harpoons and the sperm whales, and the last whale was caught on 20 November 1978.

The museum spreads across the former factory buildings and open ground at Frenchman Bay, with the flensing deck built over a natural rock slipway. Paths and floors are uneven in places, so sturdy shoes help. Allow time to walk between the sheds, tanks and the beached Cheynes IV.

One of the more unexpected things on the site is a nearly complete whaling ship that sits dockside and can be boarded. Walking its decks gives a concrete sense of how cramped and demanding conditions were for the crew at sea.