NORTH ARM- East Falkland Settlement
The flat lands of Lafonia stretch for miles, beautiful and wild with lakes and ponds for wildfowl. The land is undulating, rarely rising above 100ft. It is a huge plain comprising around half of the total land of East Falkland, forming the entire southern section below Brenton Loch and Choiseul Sound. North Arm is on the south coast of East Falkland in Lafonia and on the shore of the Bay of Harbours.
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It takes 4.5 hours to drive to North Arm from Stanley, a journey of 90 miles (140km). Until 1991 North Arm was owned by the Falkland Islands Company Ltd when they sold it to the Government (Falkland Islands Land Holdings). It remains a large settlement and farm, 115,338ha, with a population of 25, 48,800 sheep and 395 cattle (2018). There is a school, a museum and a community centre. |
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Between 1900 and 1900/10 the FIC decided, as the farm maintenance work was finished, to occupy their then large gang of men with building some stone sheds. Three were built during this time, one was finished by 1903. The smallest one might have been built for religious purposes as in the top of the door there is a cross in black. (Falkland Rural Heritage- Joan Spruce with Natalie Smith). These buildings still stand today. |
- Dansen Harbour
A semaphore was sited at Dansen Harbour, wooden contraption with an arm at the top that could be up or down to indicate to the people of Speedwell Island that there were items to be collected or a person to go to the island,
- Moffit Harbour
- North-West Arm
Mail and medicines for Speedwell Island would be left or collected from the Letterbox at North West Arm.
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Old camp/ shepherd's houses of North Arm, Lafonia
North West Arm, Dansen Harbour and Moffit Harbour. |
North Arm Past
North Arm developed as an important sheep farm when it was owned by the Falkland Islands Company.
By the late 1850's most houses were in nothern Lafonia. Wild cattle were declining and all of Lafonia was opening up to sheep farming. Fencing was being introduced and was allowing camp to be partitioned and stock to be controlled. In the 1870's Lafonia was divided into three sections, Darwin, Walker Creek and North Arm. Each section had its own houses, woolshed, paddocks and dips. North Arm in 1881, was described as the newest section.
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North Arm was the first farm in the Falkland Islands to have mechanical sheep shears.
The Falkand Island Magazine January 1894 & 1895 carried reports that the Sheep Shearing Machinery at North Arm had 24 Burgon's Patent Machine Shears, 12 being fixed on either side of the shed, also one pair of griding wheels for sharpening the combs and cutters. ' The steam shearing machine erected at North Arm this season is doing its work well. Visitors to the number of thirty stayed at North Arm within thirteen days actuated by a desire to see it at work.'
November 1902 contract shearers arrived by R.M.S.Oravia and were sent to North Arm at once in the Hornet. Shearing commenced without delay. (FIM January 1803).
FIC records say the machine shears were 'abandoned in 1904 after the loss of a great many sheep due to machine shearing cutting the wool too short and many hundreds of sheep dying in a bad storm after being shorn.' (Falkland Rural Heritage- Joan Spruce with Natalie Smith) |
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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. nationalarchives.gov.fk/Falkland Islands Magazine February 1895/ January 1903
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Photographic credits: Derek Lee, John Buckley
Photographs and Images Copyright: The images on this site have been bought under licence or have been used with the permission of their owners. They may not be copied or downloaded in any form without their owner's consent. |
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