The first European settler was Captain Thomas Paddon who first encountered the area during a lengthy beach walk when his coastal survey ship was unable to leave Ballina. He named the river and offshore reef Evans after the first lieutenant of his ship.
Along with others, Paddon scoured the local beaches for alluvial gold in the late 1870s. At that time Chinaman Beach was worked by some 300 Chinese miners and McAuleys Lead was established about 25 km from Evans Head.
Paddon married Miss Toovey from Coraki and they had five sons. They settled at the river mouth, building a hotel from cedar logs washed up on the beach. He and his family later pioneered the application of scientific methods to oyster farming. Both his son, Jim, and his grandson, Evans, gained world titles in rowing. Jim became the first president of the local surf life-saving club and Evans pioneered the Australian prawning industry in the 1940s.
The area began to attract a few regular holiday-makers in the early 20th century, largely from Kyogle and Casino. At the time the only buildings amidst the dense heath were a wine shop, two boarding houses and a few private homes. A post office and telephone exchange were added around 1908 but there was not a sufficient permanent population to attract other businesses.
After WWI John Rosolen, an Italian immigrant from New Italy, moved to Evans Head in 1919 and opened the first store, quickly followed by a butchery and a bakery. The first public school was opened in 1920 and a community hall, built by Rosolen in 1921, was used for church services and motion pictures. A restaurant and banking facilities were established in 1925 with William Gollan adding a hall, mini-golf course and Amusement Park in 1929. Many more cafes, oyster bars, bait & tackle shops and restaurants began to appear. All these developments were to cater for the visitors whose numbers swelled to the thousands during peak holiday seasons. Wybrow’s began a regular bus run from Lismore and the Pioneer Hotel transferred its liquor license from Alstonville in 1934.
After a fatal aviation incident when a plane made a forced landing on the beach, a small civil aerodrome was established in 1935 to cater to small planes. As many residents in the district aged, they retired to their holiday cottages and the population grew enough to sustain a Bowling club, Golf club, CWA and Red Cross branch.
The town grew rapidly when the RAAF established a bombing gunnery school in 1940 which, at its peak, had 1776 personnel.








Fishing
Evans Head proclaims that it was the first prawning port in Australia and in its heyday hosted a fishing fleet of 30-40 vessels moored at the mouth of the river. In the 1950s–60s, trawlers were catching up to 2,700kg of school prawns every day which were packed in wooden boxes lined with newspaper, transported to Casino railway station and sent by train to the Sydney Fish Markets at Woolloomooloo.




Evans Head Ladies Lifesavers




Although Surf Lifesaving was frequently thought of as male activity, Evans Head Surf Club formed their first all-female lifesaving squad way back in late 1920s, leading the way for change.
Evans Head was a favourite holiday destination which attracted thousands of visitors over the summer season, and the surf club volunteers not only had to cover the beach rescues but also protect the many children bathing in the nearby Evans River.
A driving force in the formation of the women’s team was Dot Smith. Born in 1908 in Grafton, Dot lived most of her life on her father’s cattle station, Cheviot Hills, near Drake in northern NSW, a long way from the surf.
In 1927, Dot, who loved catching the waves on a surfboard made by her father, and her friends Birdie and Kath Davis, were involved with organising local hall dances, raffles and other competitions to raise money for building the new Evans Head surf shed.
Birdie and Kath’s father, Captain F.W. Davis, instigated the founding of the first Ladies Life Saving Team to support his daughters and other women. Joining the team were sisters Beryl and Phyllis Balzer from Lismore; Pearl Wybrow, Muriel Osborne and Jean Kelly with Surf Club Captain (Snowy) Rodgers as their trainer.
The women were equally as competent as the men with the rescue belt and reel. They demonstrated their proficiency at the Evans Head Surf Carnival on New Year’s Day 1928, when they competed against the men, winning the open Rescue & Resuscitation Competition with a score of 89 ½ points.
The surf was very rough that day. A huge ‘dumper’ engulfed Jean Kelly breaking her collar bone. The women were reported in the provincial press as being ‘all excellent swimmers – fearless and ready to face any danger’.
By 1930 the ladies surf rescue team disbanded after the Davis sisters left Evans Head and the Balzer sisters, who lived too far away, found it too difficult to commit for all sessions.
Dot Smith continued to show her commitment to the community by becoming a member of the VAD, the Voluntary Aid Detachment, between the wars.
The Surf Life Saving Association of Australia did not formally accept active female members until 1980.
One exception was the Terrigal Surf Life Saving Club in 1942 which accepted active women members during the height of World War II, when 73 of the club’s 76 male lifesavers were away on active service.
The 1927 Evans Head Ladies Life Saving squad is yet another example of women’s capacity to trailblaze a more equitable approach to the sport.