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Willie Creek pearls

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pearls from Willie Creek
Priceless perfect pearls

Willie Creek Pearls – Elizabeth Quay

Right in the middle of the booming tourist area of Elizabeth Quay in Perth WA you will find the new show room of Willie Creek Pearls. The pearl jewellery on show at this flagship outlet is absolutely stunning. The show room overlooks the swan valley river, and  I learn at first hand the story of how pristine pearls grow within the astonishing oyster.

I have the opportunity to try a Willie Creek masterclass.  Michael delievers the fascinating story of how oyster farmers produce these beautiful gems. I am served with a glass of sparkling wine and some beautifully presented pearl meat. A rare and expensive treat.

Pearl meat is actually the marinated abductor muscle of the oyster. It looks a little like sushi.  I tried it, and am pleasantly surprised at the delicate taste.

Pearl meat appetitser

How to farm an oyster

I learn about the process of farming the pearls and I even get to wear some real beauties. I have the opportunity to try on a fabulous string of huge baroque pearls which are worth AUD 90,000 or £45,000!  Divers collect oysters when they are about 18 months to two years old, and about 4 inches across. The divers select them from the floor of the Lacepede channel off the coast of Broome Western Australia, and then bring them carefully to the surface.

These boots are made for diving

The biggest pearls in the world

Most pearls in the world today are from farms. Real natural pearls are extremely rare indeed, you’d have to open tens of thousands of shells to find just one. Western Australian pearls from Broome are the largest and most valuable in the world. These oysters live in the clear unpolluted tropical waters off the coast there.   The extremely high tides create a fast flowing environment which flushes a rich banquet of plankton. This rich food source is ideal for the largest pearl producing oyster in the world, the Pinctada maxima.

Oyster high rise

Willie Creek Pearls – how to keep an oyster happy

Once harvested, oysters are kept in racks and regularly cleaned of parasites and algae. The acid producing sponge Cliona, is a particular danger, as it eats into the shell of the oyster making it very porous.

The proper name for the pearl oyster is pinctada maxima. It is quite a meaty animal and quite a lot of things will eat it, if they could just get inside that shell! These incredible oysters can grow to the size of a dinner plate. The bigger the shell, the bigger the pearl that is likely to grow inside. 

Finding a pearl at willie creek pearls
Giant Pinctada Maxima!

How to make a pearl

In order to encourage the oyster to make a pearl, the pearl technician uses instruments which look rather surgical.  They delicately artificially insert an irritant into the oyster’s gonad. Mississippi mussel shell does this job at Willie Creek, because it is five times more dense than Pinctada maxima shell. It will show up under X-ray so staff can check if a pearl is forming.

The oyster then tries to soothe the irritation by producing nacre – better known as mother-of-pearl. It’s not too dissimilar a process to the way humans produce tears to fight irritants in the eye. Except the nacre builds and solidifies over time around the irritant.

Searching for pearls

The oysters take two years to make the pearls. If their creations are of sufficient size and quality, the oyster will be reseeded up to four times. If the pearl isn’t up to much, the unlucky creature will probably end up as someone’s dinner in a restaurant

The really big pearls are only made the fourth time around. They are therefore the rarest and the most valuable. I even get to search inside an oyster for a pearl myself. I find a small one that has formed on the outside of the mantle.

How to value a pearl

A pearl’s value is in its  colour, surface , lustre and roundness. The whiter, the better. By their surface, the fewer bobbles and markings, the higher the value. By their lustre, the more shiny the better and by their roundness , if it rolls smoothly like a marble, then it’s a winner.

Willie Creek

Willie Creek Pearls is owned and operated by the Banfield Family.  They started off by operating tours to Willie Creek, and eventually decided to acquire the Willie Creek Pearl Farm and deliver the tour experience themselves.  Finally they acquired one of only 17 commercial pearl farming licenses available in Western Australia. Today, Willie Creek remains a family owned and operated business. Pearls are the oldest gem stones in the world and are mentioned as far back as ancient Egypt, apparently Cleopatra even served one dissolved in wine at one of her lavish banquets. They are the only gemstone made by an animal and the indigenous aborigines used the pearl shell to record sacred spiritual patterns many years ago. They also had lots of myths and legends surrounding the mystery of the pearl oyster. 

Sacred pearl stories

The Willie Creek Pearl showroom is a definite asset to the Elizabeth Quay experience. If you are down under in Australia’s sunniest city make sure to pop in and see the gorgeous jewellery on display there and learn about how they were created by the awesome oyster! Check out how to book the pearl master class experience here https://www.williecreekpearls.com.au/pages/elizabeth-quay-tour

willie creek
Tropical treasures

 

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