River transport and its impact on North Creek

From the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the centrality of water-based transport to the establishment and development of European settlement at Ballina saw the lower reaches of the River and North Creek engineered in a number of ways – including the introduction of training walls and the breakwall in the River and the Creek (from 1885); the dredging of the main river channel and the mouth of North Creek (from early 1880s); the creating of the Fishery Creek canal (1896); and the ‘filling’ sections of waterfront or tidally-impacted land so that it could be permanently occupied or used (from c. 1885). These human-driven interventions imposed substantial changes to the natural form of the River and North Creek.

The introduction of the training walls and the breakwall in, and at the mouth of, the Richmond River and North Creek sought to address the shifting conditions on the Ballina bar, which frequently made crossings risky for settlers. In 1885 the NSW colonial government commissioned Sir John Coode to examine and make recommendations on improving the bar. Coode’s investigation recommended and resulted in the the construction of the north and south breakwater to ‘confine [the river’s] wide estuary into a comparatively narrow channel a few hundred yards in length, than the ebb current [would] scour out a channel’ deep enough for vessels to cross. A comparison of Henry Rous’ map of the Richmond River mouth and North Creek illustrates the manner in which both estuaries were altered by these walls.

Ahead of building the breakwall dredging was also undertaken at the mouth of the Richmond River (1883) and North Creek (c. 1890s). Like with the breakwall, dredging was introduced to assist the passage of river craft along both estuaries, it involved removing sand shoals and indurated sand from the main estuary channel. The sand from dredging was in turn used to fill waterfront areas along the river and North Creek. The developing and expanding settlement at Ballina in the latter half of the nineteenth century increased demand for shipping services, along with the number of vessels, that came into the river and North Creek. Until the 1930s water-transport was heavily relied on, despite the regular use of land transport locally from the 1910s.

The increased economic activity across the decades at Ballina saw residents and traders who came to the river demand routine shipping services and more from the locality’s waterways, by way of efficiency. In turn, this meant users of the river expected it to be accessible around the clock. In years prior, when Ballina was smaller and less busy, residents lived in greater accord with the natural rhythms of the settlement’s estuarine environment – moving from place to place was timed with tidal changes and shaped by the seasonal fluctuations that saw the river naturally scoured at flood times. Further, steam-powered vessels, which increasingly came to the river after 1856, also saw more visiting craft enter the main arm of the river at Ballina. No longer reliant on the wind and sails steam navigation enabled settlers to further eschew the river’s natural rhythms and influence their eventual calls for dredging.

Records uncovered to date show that lobbying for dredging at the Port of Ballina began from as early as 1877.28 Local residents (through the Ballina Progress Association) and others with local commercial interests knew to petition the government to fund dredging following its use at a number of other river ports along the east coast. Indeed, once firmly established as a routine practice in the colony, (or the state after 1901), government run dredges were shifted regularly from river-port to river-port along the coast. The Harbours and Rivers Authority, and then the Public Works Department,

28 The Richmond River. (1877, September 22). Northern Star (Lismore, NSW: 1876 - 1954), 4. Retrieved October 14, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71728055

administered this service.

The timing of demands made for dredging in North Creek followed its commencement in the main arm of the river. These demands also followed the establishment of the Broadwater Sugar Mill (1881), and the transport of cut cane from farms along North Creek to it. To the cane-farmers at North Creek this practice was substantially thwarted by both the tidal flow of the river and its natural processes of shoaling. Dredging was seen as the solution to this problem, as was the eventual building of the Fishery Creek Canal that linked North Creek to the main River to avoid navigating across the mouth of north creek to enter the main river.29

29 From North Creek to Lennox Head.

Behind the vessels anchored Bagots mill can be seen, which fronted the main arm of the River at its junction with Fishery Creek. It was one of many businesses that relied on river transport to the 1930’s. In turn, the need for vessels to navigate up the River to service businesses saw the breakwall built and the dredging at the mouth of the river. Image courtesy of George Young / Ballina Shire Council.