Yamba Yesteryears by John McNamara. Research Officer, Port of Yamba Historical Society

This is the first of a three-part series on the history of the engineering surrounding mouth of the Clarence River between Iluka and Yamba.

Part 1 – Moriarty’s Scheme 1860 – 1886

By 1860, the economy of the Clarence district had expanded steadily, although some changes had proved necessary. For example, wool growing had not proved a success due to the wet climate but timber getting remained important even though the cedar had been exhausted. Beef production for boiling down into tallow and later for meat canning became profitable and maize for the Sydney market came into its own in the late 1850s. Sugar growing was commercially introduced about 1857, when Eleonard Adam came to the Clarence and planted his selection about four miles from Grafton.

It became progressively important during the decade of the 1860s. Each industry channelled a greater volume of traffic into the river and the number of ships increased in proportion. 

When Grafton was incorporated as a municipality in 1859, William Vincent was engaged by Clark Irving and his interests to set up The Clarence and Richmond Examiner (C&RE) as its first publisher and editor on 21 June.  Irving was also a large shareholder in the Clarence and Richmond Steam Navigation Company.  He, among others, viewed the need for harbour works to improve the river as a waterway with the utmost importance and vigorously pursued it through the newspaper.

In April 1860, a large public meeting at Grafton carried a motion that “the crying need was that (government) money should be spent at the Clarence Heads”.  In the same year, Sir Henry Parkes visited Grafton and publicly promised financial support for breakwater construction.

The Engineer-in-Chief of the Harbours and Rivers, Edward Orpen Moriarty (1825-1896), was commissioned to design suitable improvements at the entrance to the Clarence River to create a stable and safe shipping channel.

A plan of the Clarence River entrance prepared by James Burnett in 1845 showed the river mouth extending from Iluka all the way to Yamba, a width of about 1¼ miles.    

The channel was described as filled with sandbanks, through which the river found its way to the sea, by numerous small channels too tortuous and shallow to be navigable unless by the smallest of coasters except along the southern shoreline.

Moriarty decided to overcome this problem of such a wide unstable entrance by creating a permanent fixed channel.  He proposed to adhere to and improve the natural channel from Iluka through the shallows to Clarence River Heads using training walls, then follow the southern shore and direct the river waters over the bar using northern and southern breakwaters projecting seawards in a northeasterly direction.

A marine survey was carried out by William Henry Baron, an engineer with the Public Works Department, in 1860 and Moriarty noticed during those 15 years, the northern channel had silted up and a sandspit extended southerly leaving only about an 800 [244m] feet wide channel along the southern shore, which was an extraordinary change in that short period. 

It was Moriarty’s intention to construct a southern breakwater or pier, 2,000 feet in length, extending north easterly across the reef from South (Wooli) Head, to shelter ships entering around the northern end of the reef from the heavy breakers, which rolled across the reef and bar and tended to push vessels towards the northern beach. This dyke would also divert a large body of the tidal waters, which presently flowed across the reef, into the only navigable channel around its northern extremity.  The northern breakwater was to be 1,270 feet in length, intended to steady the current and direct the ebb tide across the bar creating a stable navigable channel directly into the river from the sea to a depth of about 18 feet.  There would be inner training walls or dykes, 10,170 feet on the southern bank and 8,160 feet on the northern, constructed to protect the banks from being eroded and prevent the channel from being diverted by the tides and freshes.

He advised the Legislative Assembly of this proposal in November 1860 and estimated the total cost at £117,237.

Clark Irving secured the primary grant of £20,000 from Parliament for the first stage, principally the breakwater and training wall along the southern bank.  Tenders were called in October 1861.

The following January, John H White was awarded a contract for the initial 1,000 feet, engaged navvies in the early months of 1862 and by June there were 120 men on site erecting offices and stores as well as quarrying the rock and constructing a tramway from the quarry below South Head to the works. 

This was the beginning of the establishment of a village at South Head, whose size was to repeatedly wax and wane depending on the progress of the breakwater works over the ensuing years.

The official ceremony for commencement of work at the breakwater was a gala day held on 29 September 1862 and a special riverboat excursion was organised from Grafton using the SS Grafton, which had 400 to 500 people on board to witness the laying of the first foundation stone. 

The wife of Captain Hill, Police Magistrate, smashed a bottle of champagne over three huge stones as they glided off a truck into the water.

In December 1862, there were about 200 men camped in tents on site. Moriarty requested a further £30,000 from the Legislative Assembly that was approved, but not unanimously, as some Members were concerned that approval would commit the Government to an additional expenditure of at least £70,000.

Horse drawn trucks loaded with stone were hauled along the railway line and tipped at the extremities of the training wall and breakwater.

The first contract was almost completed by May 1864. Tenders were then called for a 1,000-foot extension of the southern breakwater and training wall with HP Wiseman being awarded the contract in August as well as one for another stage.  It was not reported until January 1867 that the works would be completed within a few weeks.

The project then went into abeyance, after some £22,000 had been spent on 3,000 feet of training wall and 600 feet of breakwater, while the Government assessed the results of the completed works as regards improving the river access.  Dredging had to be relied upon to keep the channel clear as the full potential of the proposed works had not yet been reached.

After much urging by the local Member and residents of the Clarence Valley, the Government decided to proceed with the northern breakwater in December 1872. 

A civil engineer, E Bell, arrived on site the following January to set out works.  In August, assistant engineer, Cecil W Darley of the Harbours and Rivers Department, arrived to stake out the railway line from the work site at North Head to the quarry at the Bluff, which was completed by November. Construction tenders were then called.

A Syndicate of Charles Peoples, Thomas Dellow and Edward Cox, all of Grafton, were awarded the earthworks contract in July 1874. The construction of the railway line to Iluka Bluff was carried out by day labour under Government supervision. The one-mile extension to Middle Bluff was done under contract by Frederick William Chapman.

The works on both sides of the river were again proceeding very slowly so on 20 April 1875, a deputation of concerned citizens met with the Hon. John Lackey, Minister for Works, to urge more action.  It was reported that the Government had so far voted £50,000 for the works of which approximately £21,000 has been spent on the southern works and £9,000 on surveys, leaving a surplus of £20,000.  The Minister stated that preliminary works were well underway.

The northern breakwater works were commenced in October 1875 with the Government supervising the workforce. 

The firm of Macquarie Noble and Co was awarded the contract, which was notified in the Government Gazette of 16 May 1876. The first railway excursion on the Clarence took place in March 1876 when Merion Herbert Moriarty, the Resident Engineer and brother of the Engineer-in-Chief for Harbours and Rivers, drove the train engine and three trolleys with all the men employed on the North Head Breakwater from Iluka to the end of the line at the Bluff quarry.  The firm was also given a contract for the continuation of the southern works the following January as they were already on site and agreed to work at the same low rates quoted in the previous contract. 

By 31 December 1876, £19,695.5 had been expended on the northern works out of the £30,000 voted by the Legislative Assembly.

Work on the northern breakwaters continued slowly but surely until the death of Daniel Macquarie in April 1883 after which the firm of Greig and Mondy was contracted in July 1884 to complete the northern works.  In July 1883, the firm of Smith and Rowe was engaged to complete the southern works.

In May 1883, Moriarty reported that there were now 1,250 feet of breakwater and 4,750 feet of training wall constructed on the southern side, leaving 5,420 feet of internal wall to be completed. and 1,270 feet of breakwater and 8,160 feet of training wall completed on the northern.  He requested and received an additional £100,000 to complete the northern training wall on top of the £117,000 already spent.