CHAPTER 1/ 9
CREATING CONNECTIONS
Detail of branded company crockery.
Image courtesy of the Merimbula Old School Museum Collection.
For thousands of years, the people of the NSW south-east coast and hinterlands have been closely linked to the waterways and ocean, exerting a major influence on their identity and sense of being. It is a shared tale, uniting the region and its populations across the expanse of geography, time, and generations.
Particularly before reliable land transport, boats and ships were the main mode of transport. They carried goods and people along the rivers and coastline, linking the towns, settlements and colonies with each other and the outside world. Not surprisingly then, a rich tradition of coastal navigation and maritime history developed.
Following its formation in 1858, the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company (ISN Co) - later the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company or ISCSN Co - played a central role in the story of European settlement, occupation, development, and growth of the region. Making a vital contribution to the economic and social climate of the area, it was a lifeline to the world beyond. Their shipping activities and expansion of facilities, remained a measure of the region’s development right through until the company was brought to a close in 1955.
Sydney from Pyrmont showing the Darling Harbour Goods Yard and Pyrmont Bridge, circa 1905. The four steamers berthed on the opposite side of the waterway are at the wharves of notable shipping companies. The ISCSN Co’s is second left from the bridge.
Image by Charles Kerry and Co, courtesy of the Tyrell Collection, Powerhouse Museum.
Vessels alongside the ISCSN Co’s Sydney wharf, circa 1910.
Image courtesy of the NSW State Archives and Records Collection.
From the ISCSN Co’s Illustrated Handbook, 1905.
Image courtesy of the George Family Collection.