Frederick Davis ( 1847 – 1905 )

The mail to and from Sydney still came overland via road coach from the Clarence River. It was met at Woodburn and then distributed around the district by boat. In 1883, Richard Sheather from Woodburn had the Royal Mail contract and used the Magnet to run between Woodburn and Ballina twice a week. He was allowed to carry passengers and cargo as long as it did not interfere with the punctual delivery of the mail. This was increased to include the upper Richmond in 1885 and the Magnet ran between Lismore, Woodburn and Ballina six days a week.

Frederick Davis and his wife Emma came to the district in the late 1880s with their two teenage sons Fred Junior and George, and their daughter Emily. Coming overland from the Clarence River they set up a butcher and baker businesses in Woodburn using the Florence and Alert to deliver goods and passengers. Fred acquired the mail license and the Magnet in 1889 and two years later purchased the Messenger which had been running as a passenger steamer from Woodburn to Lismore.

Frederick Davis’ two eldest sons, Fred junior and George, were heavily involved with the steamer enterprises with a new son, John (Jack), arriving on the scene in 1891. Trading under the name of Davis Bros, they formed various partnerships and had a large variety of business interests. Father and sons were very astute businessmen and hugely respected throughout the district.

Expanding their steamer fleet, the Britannia was commissioned around the turn of the century and was built in Woodburn under the supervision of Oliver Jones.

Frederick Davis senior passed away in 1905 with his sons inheriting his vast interests. The following year Davis Bros Pty Ltd was officially formed and bought out the Yeager empire at Oakland. This included the sawmill and wharves; the shipping enterprise in Pyrmont and the last of the river boats the Vesta and Stella and a large timber punt. This rapid expansion boosted the fortunes of the Davis clan and they became the dominant shipping family on the Richmond.

William Burgess, Manager of Oakland Mill and former Mayor of Coraki, joined the Davis partnership in 1908. The sawmill continued to be successful under the guidance of Davis Bros & Burgess and was expanded to include a small ship-building yard with Oliver Jones in charge of operations. Over the next decade more river steamers were added to the fleet: Frederick Davis, which was wrecked after just one year;  Lurline brought up from the Clarence River; Aggie and Wardell; and Australasia built by Oliver Jones and skippered by young Jack Davis who had obtained his Masters ticket the year before aged just 20.

In 1911 William Burgess passed away suddenly aged only 45, just three years into the partnership. In 1913, the Davis brothers attempted to relaunch as a public company under the name of the Australasia Britannia Co [ABC] but the shares were undersubscribed and the enterprise was unsuccessful.

Fred Davis junior enlisted with the AIF, which left George as the CEO. He managed admirably and in 1916 acquired the ailing Fenwick Line which included the Ballina ship yard and four river boats: the Ballina, the Sarah L Hixson, the Gannet and the pride of the fleet Captain T Fenwick which was refloated, repaired and put to work as a tug at the Heads.

The Banksia and Araucaria were the last two boats built by Oliver Jones at Oakland, just as the Magnet was being dismantled after over 30 years of service. When WWI ended, the local river trade was still strong with the main industries being timber, maize, sugarcane and dairy.

The 1920s saw huge changes for the Davis families. Fred suffered debilitating eye problems and was blind for the rest of his life, taking a back seat on business affairs. With the scrub being stripped of timber and the devastating flood of 1921, the sawmill was sold but the slip was retained by the company, and a depot established in connection with the river fleet. Jack Davis and his family moved to Coraki to run the depot while George moved up to Lismore to take over the large Nesbitt department store.

When the Great Depression hit in 1929, the business was barely turning a profit. Jack moved down to Ballina to run the kiosk then Byron Bay to be a butcher. During the second World War he was involved with shipping enterprises in Brisbane. AG Robertson bought the Lismore store and George returned to the riverboats, renaming the company the Richmond River Shipping Co in 1931.

By the 1930s both the Ballina and Sarah L. Hixson had been retired; the Lurline burnt to the waterline; the Araucaria stopped carrying passengers and became a cream boat; the Captain T Fenwick was rebuilt as a cane tug; the Britannia converted to diesel and the Australasia sold. George kept the shipping business afloat until near his death in 1946.