The Ghost Port of Broulee

The Ghost Port of Broulee Greg Jackson, Pam Forbes and Brad Duncan 2018 Until the 1950’s much of the goods and produce moving to and from the south coast of NSW were transported by ship. Except for Jervis Bay and Twofold Bay shipping to the south coast was handicapped by a lack of safe harbours. Shipping had to make do with small man-made harbours like Wollongong, Kiama and Ulladulla, river ports such as Batemans Bay Narooma and Moruya, all with dangerous sand bars at their entrances and make-shift harbours in the lee of any headland that gave shelter from dangerous southerly storms. One such makeshift harbour was Broulee Harbour in the lee of Broulee Island. Today Broulee is a sleepy tourist town on the NSW south coast between Batemans Bay and Moruya, approximately 260km (140NM) sea miles south of Sydney but it was not always so unimportant. Broulee was, for a period, a busy port with as many as seven ocean going vessels anchored in its harbour at the one time (The Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List,14 August 1844). Broulee could now be described as a ghost port. Its harbour traffic moved to nearby Moruya starting in the 1840’s and was eventually replaced by road transport. This paper looks at the ship traffic using the harbour, the produce that these ships carried and the archaeological record that has been left at Broulee. Broulee’s history would be similar to that of many other ghost ports on the Australian coast. A brief history of Broulee While the lee of Broulee Island offered protection from dangerous southerlies and south easterlies it offered little protection from north easterlies, as can be seen in Image 8. But as the 19th century progressed the lee of this island became a port used for the transfer of agricultural produce to market and the delivery of people and manufactured goods to the surrounding area. Despite the lack of a fresh water supply by the late 1830’s the need for a town at Broulee had become apparent. This township was surveyed and gazetted in 1837 (see Image 1) and by the time land sales commenced in 1840 a post office was opened, mail was being delivered each week and the first court in the district was established. In 1841 Broulee was made the centre of a police district which covered the area from Jervis Bay to Eden, New South Wales. Just seven km south of Broulee is the Moruya River whose entrance was blocked at its entrance by a dangerous bar. In 1841 a flood washed away this bar making it navigable and settlement commenced up this river. Land at the new township of Moruya was offered for sale from 1848 and the Moruya town site surveyed in 1850. This new town, with its sheltered port and fresh water supply, quickly became the major township in the area. In 1859 the court, including the building, was relocated to Moruya. The Erin-go-Bragh Inn, built on Broulee Island (see Image 9), was also shifted from Broulee Island to Moruya where it was first used as a store and later became the storekeeper's home. Although ship traffic at Broulee had been greatly diminished by 1847 the discovery of gold nearby, in the 1850’s, particularly at Araluen and Mogo, saw a modest resurgence of ship movements. This resurgence continued sporadically throughout the rest of the 19th century as gold strikes in the surrounding area came and went. The establishment of several timber mills on the Tomaga River in the late 19th century provided another resurgence in the ports activity. Starting in the 1920’s shell grit was collected from the northern side of the island for use in cement production in Sydney. After World War II, a motorised barge was used to transport the shellgrit from Broulee Island to a wharf in the Tomaga River from where it was shipped to Sydney. To enable the barge to be loaded at the island, a 15-18 metre long jetty was built together with a light rail track that carried a small dump truck at what had become known as Shellgrit Bay (National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2008, p10). This shell grit trade however produced an insignificant number of reported shipping movements. Image 1: Old parish map of Broulee (n.d.), (NSW Land Register Service) showing the harbour and proposed streets, almost none of these streets were ever made. Broulee Shipping statistics A database of 420 shipping movements to and from Broulee in the 19th century was constructed from the shipping information in 19th century newspapers (available on TROVE). This information was mainly from advertisements in Sydney newspapers for ships to and from Broulee (like those in Image 5, 6 and 7). The small size of the ships and the unspectacular nature of the cargoes has resulted in many of the shipping movements being omitted from the newspaper records. Other things to note: • • • Although many shipping movements to and from Sydney were located few movements to or from Melbourne or other Australian port could be found. Few movements to or from New Zealand ports could be located. Opportunistic visits by whaling ships seeking supplies and ships seeking shelter from storms (such as the John Penn in 1879) are rarely recorded. • No shipping movements between Broulee and other nearby south coast ports (such as Moruya and Batemans Bay) could be located. Many of these ships would be very small and often unregistered. For example, it is recorded that produce from Moruya was brought to Broulee by barges before the development of Moruya as a harbour in the 1840’s. (Nelson J, Fisher R. 2015) but there are no details of ships or cargo. Many of the ships involved in this coastal trade would be small and unregistered and their movements unrecorded. This statistical data can only be considered a sample of the larger ocean-going ships frequenting the port of Broulee. Broulee shipping movements The average number of shipping movements/year for each year was recorded and plotted in Image 2. There is considerable variation in this figure. To see long term trends a rolling average of 5 years was used. For example, in Image 2 the ordinate for 1846 is the average of the shipping movements for 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847 and 1848. Also, on this graph is shown the date when agriculture, gold and timber first became the dominant cargo from Broulee. Image 2: The yearly average number of shipping movements to and from Broulee from 1838 to 1896 and the start date of the major cargoes. Agricultural Cargoes Image 3 shows the number of mentions of the different agricultural cargoes in the shipping news between 1840 and 1847, no cargo is mentioned for many of the voyages. Many ships stopped at other south coast ports both north and south of Broulee (e.g. Jervis Bay, Ulladulla, Batemans Bay, Moruya, Bermagui, Tathra, Eden etc) so some of this cargo may have come from ports other than Broulee. Cargoes from Sydney to the south coast were mainly described as ‘sundries’, if they were described at all. Occasionally they were ‘in ballast’ i.e. no cargo. Although most ships offer passage there is little mention of passengers onboard. The area surrounding Broulee is fertile agricultural land and as can be seen in Image 3 the main crop was potatoes with wheat and bark (for tanning leather) also regularly carried. Number of mentions of agricultural cargoes in the Shipping News 1840 - 1847 Number of times mentioned 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Cargo Image 3: Agricultural cargo from Broulee to Sydney 1840 to 1847. The ships carrying agriculture from Broulee Some ships made regular trips to Broulee. This may be because they had some connection with the area or were owned by Broulee locals, the cutter Brothers, for example, was built in Broulee. These ships were all small cutters and schooners. The tonnage of 9 of the 10 ships in Image 4 is known and they have an average of 30.1tons. A ship of this tonnage would have an average length of 13.5metres (44.3ft) and a beam of 3.7metres (12.1ft) (Forbes, Jackson n.d) which would give a theoretical maximum hull speed of 8.8 knots (Crunching Numbers, 2010). Therefore, the approximate minimum time to sail the 140NM (260km) from Sydney to Broulee in favourable conditions, with no stops, would be 24 hours. This time could vary considerably and there are record of this trip in a small sailing ships taking up to a week (Hamon B. p71). Image 4: The most frequent ships to visit Broulee from Sydney between 1840 to 1846 A case study: Adventure The most frequent visitor to Broulee between 1840 and 1846 was Adventure. She was a cutter (one mast, fore and aft rigged) and was Broulee’s most frequent visitor between 1840 and 1846. Her built date is unknown. She was a small ship of 24 tons burden with a length of 10.5m (34.5 ft). This would give her a beam of 3.9m (12.9 ft) and a length to beam ratio of a low 2.7. (Forbes, Jackson n.d.) Adventure was therefore a short beamy boat, good for carrying a load but would not have been very fast or weatherly. A boat of this size would have a master and probably one other crew. The first of her 34 recorded visits to Broulee was reported in The Australian Shipping News 1 May 1843 and the last in October 1846. An advertisement for Adventure from The Sydney Morning Herald on the 5 November 1845 is shown in Image 5. Clearly Adventure carried both freight and passengers. The Albion Wharf mentioned in the advert was in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Adventure spent an average of 9 days in Sydney between trips although this varied considerably This time would have been spent unloading cargo, looking for the next cargo and passengers for the next trip and relaxing. There is no record of the time spent in Broulee port or any other intermediate ports on the trip. Adventure left for a trip to Broulee at intervals varying between 25 and 56 days, with an average of 40 days. The weather could account for this large variation between trips to Broulee. A small ship like Adventure could be weather bound in port for a considerable period. Unreported short trips may have been undertaken between visits to Broulee. The fate of Adventure is not known. Image 5: A typical advertisement for Adventure, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 November 1845 The cargoes of Adventure from Broulee to Sydney consisted mainly of potatoes and occasionally wheat and bark. The cargoes from Sydney to Broulee is described as ‘sundries’, sometimes just ‘ballast’ (no cargo). The master of Adventure was mentioned as Captain Law and after July 1845 Captain Gregory but no mention of the names of crew or number of passengers travelling in either direction was found. To Broulee for gold Image 2 shows the increase in shipping movements to Broulee after gold was discovered at Araluen in 1851 and later near Mogo and in many of the creeks around Broulee. Gold rushes occurred here intermittently in the 2nd half of the nineteenth century and advertisements for travel to Broulee often targeted potential gold miners. An example is shown in Image 6. Image 6: The Sydney Morning Herald 15 Sept 1857 Steamers to Broulee Steamers became increasingly common after the 1840’s and were able to keep to a timetable. Several Steamers ran sporadic passenger services to the south coast included Broulee. An example is the Shamrock, a 200 ton iron steamer (see image 7) which made 17 recorded trips to Broulee. This ship ran a passenger service to Melbourne and Launceston, often stopping at Broulee. This service started 18 Nov 1843 and ran irregularly till 1851. The main business of these steamers seemed to be the movement of passengers and later some timber. Image 7: The Sydney Morning Herald 4 April 1845 Timber from Broulee The Tomaga River enters Broulee Harbour on its north side (see Image 8) and in the late 19th century the entrance of this river became the port of Tomakin with high quality hardwood timber, like spotted gum, stringy bark and black butt being taken by barges from mills upriver down to waiting ocean-going ships at the rivers entrance. There was no red cedar from Broulee as it does not grow south of Ulladulla. Timber was a non-perishable relatively low value cargo and the trade was dominated by small sailing ships till well into the 20th century. Several ships are reported to have been wrecked at the entrance to the Tomaga River in the late 19th century. The first timber mill on the Tomaga River was built in 1876 by the Sydney timber firm of Jennings and Pickering with a second mill established by Curtis and Kelsie at Tomakin in 1883 (Tomakin Timeline 2017). Five mills are reported to have been operated on the Tomaga River with another mill at Mogo (Magee 2012). Shipbuilding at Broulee No shipbuilding appears to have taken place at Broulee prior to 1847 as a list of vessels registered at the port of Sydney (The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 18 March 1847) contains no ships built at Broulee (Brothers, listed below as being built at Broulee in 1845 does not appear on this list). After 1847 shipbuilding was undertaken along the Tomaga River and at the port of Tomago, just inside the river mouth shown in Image 8 (Magee 2012) shipwrights utilising the locally available quality hardwood. It is often assumed that timber ships were built in well-equipped shipyards not in an isolated settlement with few facilities. Timber however is large, heavy and difficult to move so rather than have cut timber moved to a shipyard it was easier for shipwrights to build close to a timber mill. It was also important for the shipwrights to have their say in the selection of timber supplied, since so many pieces of special shape were required. The required ships chandlery would come from Sydney. Ships were built in the open, so no large building was required. The following ships are reported to have been built at Broulee/Tomago: 1. Brothers, 9 ton schooner, built 1845 by Thomas Ainsworth (Amsworth). Not registered in Sydney, it may have been registered elsewhere or never registered (Australian National Shipwreck Database) 2. Glenduart, 30 ton schooner, Master Piper, built 1847, owner P. Erwin (The Sydney Morning Herald 11 Sept 1849) 3. Susannah, 24 ton schooner, Master Green, built 1848, owner Green and Fitzwilliam (The Sydney Morning Herald 11 Sept 1849) 4. William Alfred, 117 ton schooner, Master Tinley, built 1848, owner Tinley and Fitzherbert (The Sydney Morning Herald 11 Sept 1849) 5. Agnes Napier, 35 ton schooner, Master Stevens, built 1848, owner Easmon and Gee (Australian National Shipwreck Database). James brother, John Easson, is also said to have built boats at nearby Moruya. 6. Un-named schooner built, 1878 at Jennings Tomago sawmill (Tomakin Timeline, 2017) 7. C. Walker, 88 ton schooner, built 1881 by Charles Walker (Tomakin Timeline, 2017) 8. Sophia Ann screw steamer built at Tomakin, 1883 (Tomakin Timeline, 2017) 9. Mayflower, three-masted auxiliary schooner of 149 tons, built 1885 by William. Peat for Messrs Jennings, Pickering and Co. (Tomakin Timeline 2017) 10. Florence Peat, 60 ton schooner built Tomakin, 1885 (Young M. 2016) 11. Annandale, 108 ton ketch, built 1899 for Messrs Alan Taylor and Co. (Tomakin Timeline 2017) 12. Three Cheers, 120 ton schooner, built 1901 at Tomakin (Evening News 5 March 1902 This is almost certainly not a complete list of the ships built at Broulee and Tomago. Many more, ships, barges and boats, especially small ones, may have been built on Broulee Harbour beach and beside the sawmills on the Tomago River but have left no record. Shipwrecks in Broulee Harbour Shipwrecks are a dramatic event and are reported widely in the newspapers of the day even when there is no loss of life. The list below is therefore likely to be a reasonably complete list of the wrecking of ocean going ships in Broulee Harbour and underlines its exposed nature. Image 8 shows the approximate location of some of these wrecks although many locations are unknown. The ships wrecked at the entrance to the Tomago River were engaged in the timber trade. 1. Rover, 87 ton schooner, wrecked 1841 with the loss of 12 of the 23 men onboard (The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, 25 October 1841) 2. Rose 28 ton cutter, wrecked 11/3/1844 after collision with the Harriett in Broulee Harbour (The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March, 1844) 3. Industry, 14 ton cutter, wrecked 1/7/1845 (The Australian, 1 July 1845) 4. Amphitrite, 17 ton ketch, wrecked 1851 (Empire 2 June 1851) 5. Jeannie Deans, 31 ton schooner, wrecked 1851 (The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 April 1851) 6. John Penn 236 ton screw steamer wrecked 1879 (Nutley, Smith 1992, Lat Long location: -35.852o, 150.183o or in deg, min, sec: Lat -35o 51' 07.7" Long 150o 11' 00.0") 7. Bell, 95 ton schooner, wrecked Tomaga River entrance on the 4 July 1883 (The Sydney Daily Telegraph, 17 July 1883) 8. Alice Jane, 80 ton schooner wrecked Tomaga River entrance (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate, 17 January 1888) 9. Maggie Scott, 30 ton ketch, founded near Tomaga River entrance (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate, 17 June 1889) 10. Julius Vogel, 56 ton schooner, wrecked Tomaga River entrance on the April 15 1890 (Evening News, 6 May 1890) 11. William Alex, 58 ton ketch wrecked Tomaga River entrance (Daily Commercial News and Shipping List, 26 March 1892) 12. White Cloud, 35 ton ketch, wrecked north point, Broulee island 1893 (The Sydney Daily Telegraph, 22 Feb 1893 and Australian National Shipwreck Database) 13. Forster, 69 ton ketch ashore at Tomago River entrance 1898 (Tomakin Timeline 2017) Except for the steamer, John Penn, these ships were timber sailing ships. Image 8: Aerial of Broulee Island and surrounds showing approximate location of ship wrecks (where known) and possible archaeological remains SIX maps The Island Inn - Erin go Bragh Captain William Oldrey who was a major landholder in the area and avid promoter of the virtues of the fledgling township had an inn built on Broulee Island on the high ground on the north west of Broulee Island during 1840-41. Image 9 shows the Inn which was built from American redwood and leased by Bernard McCauley in 1842 who named it the Erin-goBragh (Ireland Forever). The hotel is depicted in an engraving made by the colonial artist John Skinner Prout who visited Broulee in 1841. It was a low shingled weatherboard bungalow painted white. In the 1850’s the inn was moved to Moruya, purchased by Abraham Emmott and erected in Campbell Street to be used as Emmott’s first ‘Beehive Store’. It was latter used as a residence for the Emmott family before being demolished in 1978 (Image 11). Using Image 9 as a guide a search above the cliff was made looking for the remains of the Inn. Brick footings, from the inn were located (Image 10), made from unstamped handmade bricks that had possibly come to Broulee as ballast. No mortar had survived and many of the bricks had been removed, presumably for local buildings, with few unbroken bricks remaining. Image 9; The Erin-go-Bragh Inn on Broulee Island, looking west by J. S. Prout 1843 (National Library of Australia). Note the small building, behind the inn and the buildings below the inn at the foot of the cliff. Image 10: Remains of a brick pier for the Erin-go-Bragh Inn, note no unbroken bricks and no mortar remains. Photo G. Jackson Image 11: The former Inn, Ein-go-Bragh. The Emmitt family home, after being moved to Moruya Photos courtesy State Library of Victoria and Moruya Historical Society Image 12 shows a plan of the remaining piers overlaid by an architectural drawing of the Inn drawn in 1978 just prior to its demolition (in green) (Broulee Bay Folklore, Myth and Legend 2017). The piers were located using a standard GPS which may result in errors. The survey and the architectural plan were aligned from the painting and by assuming that the two largest ‘piers’ were the bases for the two fireplaces. Note the piers for a small building east of the main building. This is possibly the kitchen, clearly visible in the 1841 painting (image 9). No kitchen is shown on the inns plan and timber buildings of this age often had external kitchens, because of the threat of fire. Piers would be expected on about 1800mm centres and many of the Inn’s piers are clearly missing, the result of bricks robbed over the years for other buildings. Various lumps and hollows in the landscape surrounding the inns location are possibly the results of rubbish burial or larine pits. Image 12: Archaeological remains on Broulee Island overlaid by the plan of the Erin-go-Bragh Inn (green), drawn in 1978, just prior to its demolition. Image 9 shows two small building at the base of cliff below the Inn. A search at these locations found no structure, only a few bricks, similar to those in the footings of the Inn at the southernmost building site. No trace was found of the northern most building. Excavation at these locations may produce some remains. Ballast and bricks at Broulee A large ballast mound was located near where the Tomago River enters Broulee Harbour. At this location, starting in 1876, the Sydney timber firm of Jennings and Pickering were exporting hardwood from the Tobago River (Young M., 2016). Small sailing boats would come into the river in ballast and return with sawn lumber. Larger boats being supplied by lighter while waiting beyond the river mouth. The ballast the ships discarded was used to form a training wall and hard in front of the timber mill, beside the modern boat ramp, in what is now the seaside town of Mossy Point (Image 13 and 14). Image 13: Sandstone ballast used as a training wall/hard on the Tomage River at the location of the Jennings and Pickering timber mill. Photo SIX This ballast heap extends for approximately 130m along the river bank and consists of 5 20kg irregular shaped pieces of Hawkesbury sandstone, not found locally (Image 14). Image 14. Ballast, consisting of Hawkesbury sandstone, discarded by timber ships Photo P. Forbes Additional remains from the timber mill at this site litter the riverside. These include lengths of light rail and sawn logs (Image 15). Image 15: Remains at the sawmill, Tomago River entrance. Photos G. Jackson A small number of bricks were located amongst the ballast (Image 16). These bricks are located at: 56H 0245557,6030292 (datum: WGS84). They are approximately 200mm long 100mm wide and 60mm deep with no frog. They are stamped, as can be seen in Image 16. They are similar to the bricks used in the piers of the Erin-go-Bragh Inn (built c1842) on nearby Broulee Island which have no stamp (Moruya and District Historical Society, 2014). A small additional heap of ballast was also located a little upstream in what is now the suburb of Mossy Point at: 56H 024590, 6031198 (datum WGS84). This ballast and other remains at this location suggest the location of another of the timber mills on the Tomago River. Image 16: One of several stamped bricks found amongst the sandstone ballast Photo P. Forbes Reading the bricks stamp proved difficult. It appeared to be: CA . . . . . . . N PATENT After studying several images of the inscription, it is likely that it reads: CAMPERDOWN PATENT Pottery and Brick works were established at the inner Sydney suburb of Camperdown by Enoch Fowler in 1844 following the closure of the brick pits at Brickfield Hill in 1841. It was taken over by his son, Robert Fowler, in 1879 (Ringer R. 2008). As a source of ballast bricks Camperdown is ideally located close to the industrial wharves of Darling Harbour and Blackwattle Bay which then extended further south than they do today. These industrial wharves were the probable destination of much of the timber from the Tomago Mills. Bricks would be a higher value ballast than sandstone as it could be used for building construction in the growing industries on the Tomago River. Fowler was involved in protracted disputes over patents surrounding the manufacture of his bricks. Image 17 shows the front of Fowlers Pottery and Brick Works Camperdown. The word PATENT appears prominently on the signage, as it does on the brick in Image 16. Fowlers Camperdown brick works would be the probable source of the ballast bricks at the Tomago River entrance. Image 17: The front of Fowlers Pottery and Brickworks, Camperdown. Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturist and Grazier, 24 January 1880 Conclusion: The rise and fall of the Port of Broulee is a story echoed by many of the early 19th century ports on the Australian coast as man-made harbours catered for the larger steam powered ships replaced the smaller ports. These steam ships, in turn, gave way to rail and road transport in the 20th century. The 13 ships wrecked in Broulee Harbour show beyond doubt that it was totally unsuitable as a port. Only the necessity to ship out local resources, initially agricultural and later timber and shell grit and bring in gold miners forced people to persevere with the port of Broulee. There is much more archaeology to be done in and around Broulee Harbour. Only one of the 13 shipwrecks in the harbour has been located and many of the timber mills and their infrastructure on the Tomargo River remain undiscovered. The remains of gold working in the tributary creek of the Tomargo River also remain to be investigated. References: Australian National Shipwreck Database. http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/historicshipwrecks/australian-national-shipwreck-database Broulee Bay Folklore, Myth and Legend, Broulee Island, Plan Of The Erin-go-Bragh Inn Produced And Provided By Peter Fatches 2017 https://brouleebayfolklore.weebly.com/broulee-island.html Crunching Numbers: Hull Speed & Boat Length, 2010, http://www.boats.com/reviews/crunching-numbers-hull-speed-boatlength/#.WmA1M6iWY2w National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2008. Broulee Island Nature Reserve Plan of Management. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/nature/BrouleeIsNRpom.pdf Forbes P., Jackson G. How Big is a 100 ton Brig, n.d. https://sydney.academia.edu/GregJackson Hamon B., 1994, They came to Murramarang, Published by ANU Press, The Australian National University, Acton ACT 2601, Australia. Magee S. 2012. Moruya A Short History, https://www.mdhs.org.au/history.html Moruya and District Historical Society, 2014, In 1840 Broulee was a perfect hell upon earth, https://mdhsociety.com/2014/01/28/in-1840-broulee-was-a-perfect-hell-upon-earth/ Nelson J, Fisher R. 2015, Broulee Bay, Folklore, Myth and Legend. https://brouleebayfolklore.weebly.com/ NSW Land Register Service, Historic Parish Maps of Broulee, http://www.nswlrs.com.au/land_titles/historical_research/parish_maps Nutley D., Smith T., 1992, TSS John Penn Inspection Report. NSW Department of Planning http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/heritagebranch/maritime/JohnPennInfoSheet. pdf Ringer R. 2008, Bricks, Dictionary of Sydney, https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/bricks Tomakin Timeline, 2017, http://www.tomakincommunityassociation.com/tomakin-s-timeline Young M., 2016, Tomakin The Undiscovered History, Tomakin Community Association