Illawarra Steam Navigation Company

of Illawarra Steam Navigation Company, it was almost identical to the civil ensign of Switzerland. , which was erected through funding provided by local farmers and the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company. Prior to the formation of the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company in 1858, a number of companies and individuals ran steamships along the south coast of New South Wales. The first of these was the Sophia Jane, which had traveled to Australia under her own power from England (and was the first steamship to do so), arriving in Sydney in 1831. While the Sophia Jane ran a service to Wollongong, a more regular service was provided from 1839 with the establishment of the Illawarra Steam Packet Company. The Illawarra Steam Packet Company was not known by that name for long, as just three months after being established, the company merged with the Brisbane Water Steam Passenger Company to become the General Steam Navigation Company. The newly formed company initially employed two steam vessels, the Maitland and the William IV, both of which were built in New South Wales on the Williams River, and the company serviced the Hunter River along with the south coast. Other competition emerged as a direct result of the lack of service provided to ports further south of Wollongong. Residents at two of those towns – Kiama and Shoalhaven – were led to form two new steamship companies in 1854. These new companies, the Kiama Steam Navigation Company and the Shoalhaven Steam Navigation Company respectively ran the steamships Kiama and Nora Creina. At this point three steamship companies were handling the south coast, and this proved to be too much competition for their respective interests. Thus, in 1855 an agreement was reached, leaving the south coast to just the Illawarra, Kiama and Nora Creina. and her ships were to stop at every port between Sydney and the Victorian border. n 1904 the company was incorporated as the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company (ISCSNC), and the company continued to operate successfully until World War II. However, significant problems had emerged for the company, even though it remained in good financial standing. In particular, road transport was able to offer a door-to-door service, (although the company did attempt to provide something similar at Narooma), and the railways provided increased competition, entering into exclusive contracts with some hotels and taking some goods contracts away from the shipping line. When combined with waterfront disputes, rising costs, and the post-war costs of ship replacement, the company was in trouble, and in 1948, for the first time, no dividend was paid to investors. In 1950 the company entered into voluntary liquidation, and this led to delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange in 1955. ==Ports==

on the Clyde River. In the early 1850s, when the General Steam Navigation Company, Kiama Steam Navigation Company and the Shoalhaven Steam Navigation Company were independent operations, the major ports of call along the south coast of New South Wales included Sydney, Wollongong, Shoalhaven, Merimbula, Kiama and Twofold Bay. After the amalgamation of the three companies, this list included stops at Gerringong, Batemans Bay, and Nelligen. Later, minor gold rushes at both Moruya and the Wagonga district resulted in their inclusion, and other ports were to include Bermagui, Eden, Narooma and Tathra. The extent of the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company's operations along the coast can be seen by their 1870 schedule, in which they were making the journey to Kiama, Shoalhaven and Gerringong every three days, and to Ulladulla, Clyde, Shoalhaven and Wollongong at about the same rate. Mourya was visited every two weeks, while an additional journey was made to Merimbula and Ulladulla once a week. 1873 saw a simplification of these services, and a weekly run to Merimbula, Eden and Tathra was amongst the changes. Similarly the town of Tathra was created through the erection of a small jetty, built so that the local farmers could gain access to coastal shipping which previously had stopped 25 km away at Merimbula. ==Ships==

Piecing together the Illawarra Steamship Navigation Company's fleet is difficult, as, unlike most steamship companies of the day, neither the company's advertising nor their arrival and departure notices carried the names of the vessels. Instead they simply listed the ships as "I.S.N. Steamers", if the vessels were mentioned at all. Nevertheless, it is known that when the company was amalgamated they had at least three vessels to handle the south coast trade: the Kiama from the Kiama Steamship Company, the Nora Creina from the Shoalhaven Steam Navigation Company, and the General Steamship Company's Illawarra. Of these three, the Kiama was a 104-ton paddle steamer that entered service with the company in 1855. Purpose-built in Glasgow in 1854, she took 144 days to arrive in Australia, and she served the South Coast until 1876 when she was sold and converted into a hulk. Prior to sale she had been lengthened from her original 123 feet to 154 feet, and her tonnage increased to 111 tons. The Nora Creina, on the other hand, was lighter at 93 tons, and was locally built in Sydney. She was sold by the company in 1861. The third of the original three vessels, Illawarra, had been constructed at Waterford in 1849 with a net weight of 166 tons, but, like the Nora Creina, she was only to remain with the new company until 1861 when she was sold. By 1864 the company was operating a fleet of at least four ships - the Kiama was still in service, and she had been joined by Hunter, Mynora and Kembla. Both Kembla, a 204-ton iron steamship, and Hunter, a paddle steamer with a net weight of 105 tons, were built in Glasgow, Scotland. The next significant change to the company's fleet came in 1878 with the purchase of the Illawarra (II). At 533 tons and 190 feet in length, she handled both passengers and cargo for the company, and proved to be "most popular" until being laid up in 1908 and eventually scrapped. When the company was reconstituted as the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company in 1904, their vessels included Allowrie and two new steamers: Eden and Bega. Eden was a 693-ton screw steamer that had arrived in 1900, a purpose-built vessel constructed for the company in Glasgow to handle the Sydney–Merimbula–Eden–Tathra route. Eden remained with the company until being converted to a hulk, and she was finally scuttled in 1933. Bega, at 567 tons, transported both passengers and cargo between 1883 when she was launched and 1907 when she capsized with the loss of one of the passengers. Unfortunately she ran aground off Beecroft Head in 1928. Just prior to the onset of the first World War, the company purchased four new ships: Bermagui, Bonandera, Bodalla, and Bergalia. Bodalla was requisitioned for the war effort and repurposed as a minesweeper; she was lost in 1924. After the war the company purchased another three vessels: Nergalia, Cobargo, and Kianga. Nergalia and Kianga were requisitioned during World War II, but while both survived the hostilities, Kianga was not returned to the company after being decommissioned. ==Footnotes==