Following an enquiry into the transport facilities in the Bega District in 1851 the ''Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company'' was formed. The ''Kiama Steam Company'' had been established in 1852 to work along the south coast of New South Wales , Australia . The company was incorporated on 3 October 1853, including the ''Kiama Steam Navigation Company''. State Records of New South Wales: Steam Navigation Board The ''Illawarra Steam Navigation Company'' carried wool, cedar, coal and a variety of raw materials to the southern ports. As steamers were independent of the wind with coal-fired engines, they were more suited to the coastal conditions than sailing vessels. They were less likely to be blown off course or on to the rocky coastline, and they were better able to navigate the shallow river mouths and bars of the rivers.1
In October 1858, an Act of The New South Wales Parliament created the ''Illawarra Steam Navigation Company'' from an amalgam of smaller companies. The act was amended in 1887. From 1866 there was a weekly service from south coast ports to Sydney.
The company was later known as the ''Illawarra & South Coast Steam Navigation Company'' (ISCSNC).
In 1928 the ''Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company'''s SS Merimbula went ashore on Beecroft Head while heading south. After this wreck, passenger shipping to the south coast finished. Not only had the company lost a significant asset, but there were now better roads to the south coast and a railway line to Nowra part way down the coast.
The company, then known as the ''Illawarra and South Coast Steam Company Limited'', was delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange in 1955 because of liquidation. Australian Stock Exchange information
- Batemans Bay
- Bermagui
- Eden
- Durras Inlet : a minor port. Wasp Head, still called "Mill Point" by local residents, affords an excellent lea from south and south-east winds. A saw mill, where rusted steam boiler still remains, operated at the water's edge, and steamships were able to pull in close to the sandstone shelf to load slings of sawn hardwood. A set of wooden tram tracks ran inland, and timber from other sources could be hauled by horse teams to Mill Point for loading.2
- Kiama : the company built a stores building adjacent to the harbour in 1868.
- Merimbula
- Narooma
- Nelligen
- Tathra : came into existence as a small jetty which served as a shipping outlet for a group of local farmers. Previously the nearest port had been Merimbula 25 km away and one of the farmers, Daniel Gowing, had offered a financial reward to anyone willing to ship produce to a point further north. The jetty was replaced in 1861-62 by a wharf which was erected out of funds donated by local farmers and the shipping company. Regular shipping commenced in 1862.
- Ulladulla : A wooden jetty was built in 1859 so as to retain the services of the ISCSNC; the company had informed the farmers that would not call again at Ulladulla unless better mooring facilities were provided. After seven years the jetty was replaced by a stone pier built by the government on the natural reef. The company built a store on the harbour foreshores for the receiving of produce for shipment to and from Sydney.3 There was a weekly cargo service to Ulladulla until the mid 1950s.
- Wollongong
- ''Bega'': built of steel in 1883 in Greenock Scotland. A twin screw steamer powered by a compound 98hp engine; 567-tons, 57.7m-long. Capsized off Bunga Head/ off Tanja Beach, between Tathra and Bermagui, on 5 April 1908. The ''Bega'' was transporting stock for exhibition at the Sydney Royal Easter Show . When she departed, the ''Bega'' was laden to capacity with 38 passengers and 12 crew, livestock including pigs, and a number of bulls and horses. There are also rumours that there was a consignment of gold. There was a list when she set off, and when the list became more pronounced she attempted returning to port — but capsized before reaching safety. The stock swam to shore, but one passenger died when being transferred to a liferaft. 45
- ''Bergalia'': the last coastal freighter to sail from Batemans Bay, loaded with hardwood railway sleepers in April 1957.
- ''Cobargo'': the last ship to service Tathra in 1954
- ''Eden'': when the ''Merimbula'' went ashore in 1928, the ''Eden'' was brought out of reserve to complete the ''Merimbula'''s immediate bookings and was then laid up once more and sold.
- ''The Hunter'': about 1860
- ''Illawarra'': a paddle steamer commissioned in 1878 and retired in 1908. This ship was the mainstay of the passenger traffic along the south coast.
- ''John Penn'': the first screw steamer to operate on the south coast, arriving from New Zealand in 1870 after having been built of iron in 1867. She weigh 199 tons, and was 140 ft long. The ''John Penn'' was wrecked off Burrewarra Point in a heavy fog and sank near Broulee while being towed to Moruya on 11 November 1879. Landscape Art of the Illawarra Region of New South Wales 1770-1990 The late 1860s were a time of great innovation in maritime technology, and the ''John Penn'' featured some of the latest and most innovative marine steam engines of the time.
- ''Kameruka'': built in 1880. On 16 October 1897, she struck Pedro's reef near Moruya and sank. After the ship was foundering, ropes were tied to several pigs which were jettisoned overboard. The pigs swam the lines to the beach, enabling everybody to reach safety.
- ''Kembla'': about 1860
- ''Kiama'': about 1860
- ''Merimbula'': ran aground on Whale Point at Currarong, just north of Jervis Bay , while heading south in mid 1928. The ''Merimbula'' was a twin screw steel steamship built by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company at Troon, Scotland in 1909. She was over 209 feet long and displaced 1111 tons. The Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company commissioned her following the loss of the SS ''Bega'' in 1908. She was also rigged as a two masted schooner. The ''Merimbula'' was largest ship built for the company and was primarily a passenger vessel with some cargo capacity. There was accommodation for 96 First Class passengers and 10 Second Class passengers. She normally did two runs a week on the south coast. 6
- ''Moruya'' was built by the Caledonian Ship Building Co. in Preston, England in 1906 and sold by the Illawarra Steam Navigation Co. in 1912.
- ''Tilba'': wrecked near the entrance to Summercloud Bay when the vessel ran onto rocks in November 1912 while on a voyage from Narooma to Wollongong. A 200-ton wooden screw steamer built by James Wright at Coopernook on the Manning River, Northern NSW in 1908. The vessel had a length of 38.4 metres and a beam of 8.1 metres, and was powered by compound engine.
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