["Broome's 'Visitor'", , Saturday 07 November 1931]

[subtitled "Abe" Davies, Pearl Buyer.

publication not certain, 07 November 1931]

...

It is rather coincidental, however, that when the good ship Koombana foundered and was lost between Hedland and Broome it numbered among its unfortunate passengers two men by the name of Davies. The one already referred to was undoubted an Englishman the other was undoubtedly a Jew, and known locally as "Abe."

The latter Mr. Davies is a well-remembered Broome identity, and is recalled with esteem by the older residents of this town. A fine man he was, with trim beard and moustache and a dignity befitting one constituted as Rabbi of his town. Abe Davies was a wealthy pearl buyer and built as his residence the large white bungalow overlooking a magnificent view of Roebuck Bay. It is reputed to have cost him some thousands of pounds, which is not hard to believe when we consider the large beatifully appointed rooms and grounds that were in his time ordered and tended with pride.

It was Abe Davies' custom to hold Jewish services at his house and to observe most strictly all Jewish rites at such times as the Sabbath and the Passover and his fraternity started services at sunset every Friday evening, and fasted until sunset the following day. I was not aware that in my previous article I gave the impression of Davies as gloating or miserly. He was neither. The old inhabitants, looking back on former years, remember him as a most generous man, and recall the entertainments afforded by him as being on the most magnificent scale. Lavish parties were possible then, for day by day 300 luggers scoured the sea and carried home its pearls. Abe Davies's collection was one of the finest in Broome, almost, it is said, one of the finest in the world. Residents of his time recall his revealing it to a privileged few, heaped, pile beside pile, on the shelves of his safe.

What became of this wealth after his death is a mystery that has remained unsolved and lends Broome an added and romantic interest as the possible hoarding place of buried treasure.