Ships and Shores and Trading Ports

Introduction

A NSW Maritime publication to mark the Centenary of Federation.  Available from you local NSW Maritime Office.

This publication celebrates the work of all those people who contributed to the vigour and success of the coastal ports and the ships that served them, The story throughout is one of hard work, courage and inspiration.

Looking back from the twenty-first century, the history of the ports on the New South Wales coast can easily be romanticised, but for the people who lived and worked on our coast it is often a real-life drama. Hardship, toil and tragedy were recurrent features of these workers’ lives. For a century and a half ships were almost their sole lifeline, until road and in some cases rail surpassed sea transport as a more reliable method of conveying goods.

This book tells the story of the beginnings of the ports, the growth and subsequent decline of many of them as commercial ports, and it offers a vivid picture of Australian life in our defining years. Though Newcastle, Sydney, Botany Bay and Port Kembla remain as major ports today with Yamba, Lord Howe Island and Eden as out ports, most of the small ports on the North and South Coast of New South Wales saw their last trading ships many years ago.

While the early history of the ports is recounted briefly, Mary Shelley Clark has concentrated on their life since Federation.

This intriguing story is largely described by the people whose lives were closely related to the ports and those who have researched their coastal communities with passion and devotion. Though it is recognised that life was often harsh during these times, the distinctively tenacious Australian character shines through in the book’s recollections of both triumph and despair.

This book is an appreciation of the saga of the New South Wales coastal shipping and trading ports in our nation’s development.

One good story I remember. It was when the Merimbula sank, in Abraham's Bosom. She was hard aground. The saloon bar was half full of water, and the bartender, his name was Salvation Army George - he was still charging for rinks. In the bar they were up to their knees in water, and Salvation George said, 'This company's in too much trouble at this present time to be giving away free drinks!'

Another story that stuck in my mind - when they put glass in the wheelhouse windows - all those old ships had open wheelhouses, and punching into nasty weather, they were there in their oilskins getting bloody drowned. And when they put glass in the windows, one of the old masters said he didn't like it in his ship at all. He said the sailors would be going to sleep. - Paul Helmore