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TRANSPORT WAS BY SEA

From the earliest days of settlement in the Cape Hawke district, first at Forster, then Tuncurry, all communication with Sydney and Newcastle was by sea.

Sailing ships travelled the coast bringing supplies and carrying the products of the area and any passengers offering.

The settlers at Failford, Nabiac, Coolongolook also found it more convenient to convey themselves and their goods down the lake and the Wollamba River (now called the Wallamba River) to the port by boat as roads were almost non-existent.

THE TUNCURRY ROAD

As for communication with Taree, first mention is made of a bridle track which wound through the thick scrub by way of Black Head. Another route was up to Krambach and then proceeded through Tinonee.

Eventually a road of sorts was made through the bush from Tuncurry, following the tracks of the bullock drays, which were the main means of transport at that time. This joined the road from Nabiac to Taree now part of the Pacific Highway. This early road wound through the hills, down the gullies and across the creeks full of potholes and steep climbs.

RECALLING 91 YEARS

Mr. Joe Salter (91 years of age in 1980), was born across the river from Darawank Bridge, where his people had a farming property and recalls conditions at the turn of the century. A sand track led down the bush to Tuncurry but despite an attempt to surface it with sawdust, then plentiful at the timber mills in the area, it was a hard trip, vehicles frequently stuck in the sand and he remembers the few trips he made to the coast by rowing a boat down the river. He had clear recollections of shopping trips to Taree by horseback, perched behind his mother, who rode side saddle, setting out at early light and returning home at dusk. Starting from the homestead, they travelled across the Wollamba (now Wallamba) towing the horse behind the boat, then mounted and started off through the bush on their lonely ride.

One of the few signs of habitation, apart from the old settler's hut, was a shanty at the junction of the road to Nabiac; this catered for the thirsty traveller and is still known to the older locals as 'Wineshop Corner'.

Later, as the family recovered from the Big Flood which washed away a lot of the farms along the river and brought poverty and hardship to the settlers, a sulky appeared to make the trip to town a little more comfortable. But Joe still had to tow the horse across the river and leave the conveyance at a neighbour's house near the road.

Even later in the 1920s, his niece remembers trips to Taree with her grandmother in the sulky, walking up the steeper hills to give the horse a spell, the old lady in a bonnet and long black dress trailing in the dust.

MOTOR VEHICLES ARRIVE

With the coming of the motor car, means of transport improved but unfortunately the state of the road did not follow suit and a trip to town was still a hazardous business, tyres being the main casualties.

The first motor transport to cater for the general public was started by Mr. Affleck who purchased an Argyle car and ran a service from Nabiac to Taree via Tuncurry, the fare being 7/6 (75c), by no means cheap for those days. Then, when the railway reached Taree in 1912, another Argyle was purchased and William Affleck ran a service between Tuncurry and Taree, the fare by now having risen to 10/- ($1.00) each way.

RAIL TRANSPORT

While heavy cargo still went by sea, the railway offered a faster means of getting perishable freight to Sydney markets, no mean consideration in the days before refrigeration. Both Charlie Bowers and Vince Fazio ran trucks to Taree, picking up the boxes of fish, packed in ice, from the fish wharf, carting it to catch the evening train at Taree, reaching the Sydney markets next morning. Joe Fazio, a son of old Vincenzo, ran a service car into the train in the early thirties.

THE FIRST BUS SERVICE

About 1936, Mr Rupe Beale of the Bellevue Hotel, sponsored the first bus service to Taree with a view of reducing the fare and increasing the tourist traffic, Brian Ivens being the proprietor.

In 1980, despite a better surface and the elimination of the few steep hills, the Tuncurry Road still followed the old bullock track through the bush and needed to be brought into the 20th century to carry the heavy traffic generated by the rapid growth of the Forster and Tuncurry area.