Our Story

Fleeing the Greek island of Kastellorizo during World War I, the Paspaley family arrived in Australia in 1919 in search of a new life. They decided to try their chances on their first port of call, Cossack, on the Indian Ocean coast of Western Australia - the same port where pearling had begun just half a century earlier. Nicholas Paspaley was five years old.

Only nine years later, his father died. At the age of 14, a young Nicholas left school to support the family, joining a pearling fleet as a deckhand. By the age of 19, he had his own pearling lugger and began his career as a pearling master. Nicholas eventually earned the status of Master Pearler, increasing his fleet to five pearling luggers, and supplying natural pearls and mother-of-pearl shells to the world's markets.

By the mid‑twentieth century, the traditional pearling industry faced an existential crisis. Overfishing had depleted pearl beds, and the invention of plastics in the early 1950s caused global demand for mother‑of‑pearl to collapse, almost overnight. Confronted with the potential loss of both his fleet and his life’s work, Nicholas Paspaley looked to the future.

Drawing inspiration from early Japanese experiments in pearl cultivation, he envisioned something unprecedented: the creation of a cultured Australian South Sea pearl that could match the size, beauty and value of the rare natural pearls for which Australia had long been renowned.

In 1969 Nicholas Paspaley took the decisive step that would change the course of Australian pearling forever. Partnering with leading Japanese pearl culture specialists, he helped introduce cultured pearling technology into Australia. This marked the birth of Australia’s modern cultured pearl industry.

Through perseverance, experimentation and innovation, and now with his son Nick on board, Nicholas Sr realised his ambition: the successful cultivation of exceptional Australian South Sea pearls This effort would ultimately earn him recognition as Member of The Order of the British Empire (MBE), for his services to the pearling industry.

Nicholas Paspaley MBE passed away in 1984, at the age of 70. That same day, he had returned to Darwin from his pearl farm with the finest crop of pearls he had produced in his life. After his father's death, management of the business passed to young Nick Paspaley AC and his two sisters, Roslynne Bracher AM and Marilynne Paspaley AM.

In 1980, with his father’s blessing, Nick Paspaley AC began experimenting with new pearl cultivation methods, the same techniques that had produced his father’s final exceptional harvest. Having proven their potential, he transformed the company’s operations.

By the late 1980s, Paspaley was producing the world’s finest quality cultured pearls. The Australian pearl company was setting new price records at international auctions and dominating the supply of cultured pearls to the world’s best jewellery and luxury houses.

Today, that legacy endures, guided by excellence and shaped by the sea. More than 90 years since a young Nicholas Paspaley bought his first pearling lugger, Paspaley is a family‑owned company, now in its third generation. From Nicholas Paspaley MBE's pioneering vision to the stewardship of Chairman Nick Paspaley AC, Paspaley remains the world’s most important producer of cultured pearls, recognised without peer for their natural beauty, rarity and value.

Pictured: The Paspaley Pearl on display at The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, loaned by the Paspaley family for "The Allure of Pearls" exhibition, in 2005. Harvested in 2003 from a Paspaley pearl farm on the Kimberley Coast, the pearl is a gem-quality round pearl weighing 60.8 carats. It was placed on public display for the first time at the Smithsonian exhibition, alongside a collection of the world's most significant pearls.