GOOSEGREEN
Goose Green is an East Falkland settlement. It lies on Choiseul Sound in Lafonia on the east of the isthmus at the ‘waist’ of East Falkland, that joins Lafonia to the northern half of East Falkland. The population is over 40, making it the largest settlement after Stanley and Mount Pleasant. There is a small airfield, a shop and school. On the shore is the wreck of the Vicar of Bray. Goose Green,152,320 hectares, belongs to Falkland Land Holdings and in 2018 carried 77,130 sheep and 234 cattle. There is a road linking it to Stanley. Darwin is 2 miles from Goose Green.
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Goose Green, 2 miles from Darwin with deep water capable of taking larger vessels, came into being in 1875 when a tallow factory was set up to deal with old surplus sheep in the rapidly developing sheep industry. It was sited just below where the social club stands. The project was successful, but the factory digester exploded in 1885 and another had plant had to be built. This larger plant also processed (from 1911) the sheep meat, and ‘Malvina Canned Mutton’ was produced until 1919 (61,000 sheep processed in 1918). By the end of WW1 canned mutton was less desirable as more meat became available in the UK. It closed down in 1921. Tallow production, however, went on until the 1950’s when a fire destroyed the factory. |
Goose Green became the base for the Falkland Islands Company’s sheep farming enterprise in Lafonia in 1922. In 1891 there were only 13 people living in Goose Green. New houses were constructed at Goose Green and residents of Darwin relocated there. A huge wool shed with 34 stands for shearers was built, a record size in its day. Until it got its own shearing shed, Walker Creek’s sheep were also shorn at Goose Green. The drive to Goose Green for the sheep was made considerably shorter and easier in 1926 when the suspension bridge ‘Bodie Creek Bridge’ was built. The population of grew to 185, the largest settlement outside Stanley.
The FIC built and presented Darwin Boarding School to the Government in 1956. It could accommodate forty boarders and also take Darwin and Goose Green's children as day pupils. In the late 1970's it closed, deemed too expensive to run. It burned down during the 1982 conflict. A new school was built in the settlement at Goose Green.
During the 1982 conflict with Argentina, a large number of Argentinean troops occupied Goose Green and the area. All of Goose Green’s 114 residents were confined to the hall. The 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment won back and freed Goose Green with a loss of 17 British, and at least 54 Argentine lives. |
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Sources include: Falkland Rural Heritage- Joan Spruce with Natalie Smith, nationalarchives.gov.fk/Jane Cameron National Archives The Early Falkland Islands Company Settlments- An Archaeological Survey- by Robert A. Philpott, The Company The story of the Falkland Islands Company- by Michael Wright.
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Photographic credits: Ailsa Heathman
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