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<\/p>\nLocal historian, George England\u00a0 in 1970, noted that between 1883-1892 there were several fishermen operating in Coffs Harbour and Charlesworth Bay.\u00a0 They took the fish out to ships from the Clarence where it was packed with ice.\u00a0 There was also some smoked and dried fish sent to Sydney or sold to ships crews but it was not an important industry until the local ice works at the Butter Factory were established in 1910.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fishing Fleet Coffs Harbour 1946, Courtesy Picture Coffs Harbour, Mus 07-5931<\/a><\/p>\n 1892\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Jetty completed.<\/p>\n 1906\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Beginning of Coffs Harbour fishing industry.<\/p>\n 1908<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Four motor-boats (and 20 crewmen) engaged in the fishing industry at Coffs Harbour.<\/p>\n 1910\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Introduction of local ice-works at Butter Factory.<\/p>\n 1912\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>South Coffs Island and mainland connected.<\/p>\n 1914-1927\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Northern Breakwater to Muttonbird Island built.<\/p>\n 1919-1946\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Eastern Breakwater built.<\/p>\n 1946\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Nambucca Fishermen\u2019s Co-operative Ltd formed.<\/p>\n 1947\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Coffs Harbour\u2019s fishermen amalgamate with Nambucca Fishermen\u2019s Co-op.<\/p>\n 1947\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Temporary use of a shed on railway land for first depot.<\/p>\n 1950\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Coffs Harbour Fishermen\u2019s Co-op\u2019s purpose-built depot opened \u2013 located next to the railway gates.<\/p>\n 1953\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Ice-making machine installed at Coffs Harbour depot. (Prior to that, ice was sourced\u00a0from the Butter Factory. The Butter Factory closed in 1953, according to Neil Yeates\u00a0in Coffs Harbour Volume 2<\/em>, page 150.)<\/p>\n 1954\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Registered office of the Nambucca-Coffs Harbour Fishermen\u2019s Co-op Ltd transferred to Coffs Harbour.<\/p>\n 1967\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Eric Hogbin sets up proper business guidelines for Co-op.<\/p>\n 1970\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>35 boats and 100 men engaged in local industry. (25 boats operate from the Port of Coffs Harbour.)<\/p>\n 1975\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Inner Harbour (Marina) completed.<\/p>\n 1979\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>New Co-op building opened in current location.<\/p>\n Fishermans Co-op Coffs Harbour 1983, Courtesy of Picture Coffs Harbour Mus 07-5557<\/a><\/p>\n In 1946, the New South Wales State Government was encouraging the formation of Fishing Co-operatives as a way to stabilize the fishing industry, which had a large black-market and a wildly fluctuating price for fish which made it difficult to create a livelihood from the industry. [1,2]<\/p>\n In March 1947, about 40 Coffs Harbour fishermen met to discuss whether to join the Grafton Co-operative, join the Nambucca Co-operative, or form a separate Coffs Harbour Co-operative. [3]<\/p>\n Three months later, they chose the Nambucca option, and looked forward to enjoying \u201call the special privileges with regard to the sale, control and marketing that are available to co-operative societies.\u201d [4]<\/p>\n While plans were being made in September 1947 to build a depot and a jetty extending into the harbour from the northern breakwater wall [5], the Coffs Harbour members of the commercial fishermen\u2019s union were voting to join a state-wide strike aimed at increasing the price of fish by 25%. [6] \u00a0<\/span><\/sup>The Coffs Harbour district\u2019s fishing fleet of 25 craft and 60 men [6]\u00a0was finding its feet\u2026.<\/p>\n The Fishermen\u2019s Co-operative Society \u2013 comprising depots at Macksville, Nambucca, Sawtell and Coffs Harbour \u2013 began its Coffs Harbour operations in November 1947 [7]<\/p>\n Fishing was a relatively small part of Coffs Harbour\u2019s economy. (Figures for 1959 list fishing as 2% of the local economy. [8]) But the decades following 1947 produced services for the fishing fleet such as the marine rescue service, a slipway and a marina; services which have helped give Coffs Harbour its distinctive harbour-town character.<\/p>\n Coffs Harbour Advocate 11 August 1953, P.1, Courtesy of Trove, National Library of Australia, http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article187939313<\/a><\/p>\n Research Courtesy of Geoffrey Watts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Local historian, George England in 1970, noted that between 1883-1892 there were several fishermen operating in Coffs Harbour and Charlesworth Bay. They took the fish out to ships from the Clarence where it was packed with ice. There was also some smoked and dried fish sent to Sydney or sold to ships crews but it … Continue reading “Coffs Harbour’s Fishing Industry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Coffs Harbour’s Fishing Industry Time-line<\/u><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nThe origins of the Coffs Harbour Fishermen\u2019s Co-operative.<\/span><\/u><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nReferences:<\/u><\/h3>\n
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