William Yabsley, William Yeager, Tom Fenwick, Frederick Davis, Oliver Jones
William Yabsley, a shipwright from Plymouth, travelled overland from the Clarence to the Richmond in 1845 and became an early leader in the shipping and timber industry. After building his first vessel, the Pelican at Ballina in 1849, William moved his family upriver to where the north and south arms of the Richmond River meet and founded the town of Coraki. He built a timber dealers’ store and shipyard, and along with a bullock team to cart the cedar, and the Pelican delivering it to Sydney, progress was swift and profits were healthy. When the Pelican was shipwrecked in 1852, he replaced her with the Coraki and then set about erecting a huge ship-shed to accommodate his burgeoning ship building business. Sitting at the junction of the river, the ship-shed measuring 30ft x 150ft was to become a landmark for the next 60 years. William was persuaded to take on some of the young lads around the district as apprentices alongside his own four sons. When the next ship, a 180-ton barque, was launched in 1864, it was named the Schoolboy. This was followed by an even more ambitious 265-ton steam-powered barque, the Examiner.
William Tudor Yeager, born in Canada, arrived in Australia in 1858 aged just 18 years. He saw an opportunity to supply the timber getter camps with flour, tea and equipment and bought a ten-ton lugger, laboriously rowing and sailing the length of the river with his goods to sell. He then purchased other vessels large enough to bring supplies from Sydney and brought the first steam powered paddleboat, the Keystone, to the Richmond in 1863. Although the Keystone was not strong enough to tow ships across the bar, with his new drogher he was able to tow large sailing boats upstream; tranship stores to the shallower parts of the South Arm; and pick up cargo and passengers from the farms and deliver them to awaiting steamers – all at 5 miles per hour. Impressed by William Yeager’s Keystone, William Yabsley built a 50-ton paddle steamer Index, to assist with safe passage of his ships up and down the river and to cross the treacherous bar. By 1865, Yeager had saved enough money to purchase land at East Coraki which he called Oakland and established a large trading depot and warehouse. He bought the barque Amphitrite to transport his timber to Sydney and Brisbane and a small tug Athletic to take it safely out of the Heads.
Thomas Fenwick arrived in Ballina in 1870 after he and his brother John had established a tug service at Miller’s Point on Sydney Harbour. He was trading timber on the Richmond with his schooner Atlantic and recognised that a steam tug at the Ballina heads would be a good business. In 1873 he purchased the Alchymist, a 54-ton paddle-steamer and thus began the “Battle of the Bar”. William Yabsley had put Captain Lachlan McKinnon in charge of the Index and this infuriated Tom Fenwick. Livid at the thought of losing lucrative towing charges, Fenwick, a wily and fearless Scotsman, used unscrupulous methods to undermine and sabotage his rival, even at one stage ramming the Index. These antics continued for a few years until Fenwick installed the much larger 156-ton paddle steamer Francis Hixson into service. Captain McKinnon relinquished the bar trade and returned the Index to river droghing, leaving Fenwick free to monopolise the market and increase his fleet. Fenwick was a brave risk-taker, very suited to the treacherous life of a tug-master. He executed many daring rescues and was well respected as a master mariner. He expanded his interests to upriver cargo and passenger transport using his droghers Victoria and Sarah L Hixson and established a large shipyard in Ballina.
Frederick Davis entered the scene in the late 1880s coming overland from the Clarence to set up butcher and baker businesses in Woodburn using the Florence and Alert to deliver goods and passengers.
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 acquired the mail licence and the Magnet in 1889 and two years later purchased the Messenger which had been running as a passenger steamer from Woodburn to Lismore.
All four pioneer businesses thrived with the rapidly expanding population of newcomers to the district. William Yabsley produced more ocean-going ships before being tragically killed in a boating accident in 1880. His son William converted the massive ship-shed into a sawmill and continued to trade timber and cattle.
William Yeager’s business was also growing and along with the purchase of more ships, he established a base at Pyrmont in Sydney Harbour and wharves and warehouses at Lismore and Irvington, near Casino. He too saw the business opportunities of processing timber on the spot and the Oakland sawmill came into operation during 1882, just one month after Yabsley’s. His sons became more involved with the business; William Junior as the manager at the Oakland sawmill and Edgar (Ted) running the Sydney operations.
Thomas Fenwick’s older sons, Andrew and Thomas Junior, had also joined their father in business, acquiring new boats for the passenger and tug trade, and replacing those lost to the vagaries of the sea. When Thomas senior died in 1896, the two boys continued to build and expand the shipping interests. The first river steamer to be built at their Ballina shipyard was named the Captain T Fenwick in honour of their father.
Frederick Davis’ two eldest sons, Fred junior and George, were heavily involved with the steamer enterprises. 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, who had trained as an apprentice under William Yabsley and had married his daughter Elizabeth Yabsley.
The new century brought many changes. William Yeager senior and junior both passed away in 1904 and 1906 respectively. Ted Yeager sold the larger ships to N.C.S.N. Co. and, like William Yabsley junior, concentrated on farming.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, the Fenwicks were struggling with the loss of several key boats and the downturn in business due to the improvements in road and rail. When the Captain T Fenwick sank on the North Arm the loss was too great and they filed for bankruptcy in 1916.
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.
Davis Bros became the Richmond River Shipping Co in 1931 and N.C.S.N. Co. was still running large steamers up the river to Lismore. Oliver Jones outlived nearly all the major players in this story, having witnessed first-hand the burgeoning of the Richmond River shipping industry almost from its inception in 1850s to its decline a century later. 1853 – 1952
River Steamers
Life blood of the community
“How we all loved the boats, large and small. Of course to we river bank dwellers they were our life line, and our chief link with the outside world. When we first went to live at Tuckurimba, there were no telephones, but the farmers had their own means of communication with each other. You wrote your letter, put-it in an envelope and tied it firmly to a short stout stick, gave it to the deckhands on the river boats and when they came close to the place where the letter was to be delivered, the Captain would blow the whistle to let the folk know that they had something for them, and they would come out and take delivery of the message. We were friendly with the neighbours, and kept in touch with them by a constant exchange of magazines and fruit and vegies. The boat people were very good natured, no thought of such things as freight. They had to stop at all wharves and to them it was no trouble to put these gifts off with the cream cans. The two big firms in Lismore, “The New Firm”, and “The Red Flag Store”, sometimes used to run a free trip to Lismore on the boats if you bought a pound’s worth of goods. A great day out! I seem to remember that they sometimes recklessly threw in a free-lunch to go with it, which consisted of a meat pie and a cup of tea.” Gladys Hunt
As well as passengers and goods, river steamers were also used to convey messages and announce events. The “river grapevine” was so effective that the downstream residents often knew the news before it reached the intended party.
With more efficient road and rail services, along with crippling strikes from wharf workers, the downturn of trade was imminent. During WWII running small river steamers as a viable business ceased.
The 1950s saw a century of river transport grind to a halt.
