Canneries

Canneries of the Pumicestone Passage

By Lynne Hooper

President, Bribie Island Historical Society

The digitisation of regional Australian newspapers and magazines by the Australian National Library has revealed some fascinating “new” facts about fish canneries on and around Bribie Island. Why is this noteworthy? Until recently Bribie’s history has relied on the memories of early Bribie residents, and many of these memories were captured in the Bribie Star’s newspaper’s Souvenir Edition published in October 1963 to mark the opening of the Bribie Island Bridge.  Stories were related about the history of the Island, its early residents, and when shops, churches, police stations, water and electricity commenced. Since the recent digitised newspaper roll-out we have been able to ‘fill in the gaps’ of our remarkable Island’s past.

The history of one early industry has been clarified -  the Canneries of the Pumicestone Passage.  The first cannery was in 1897, owned by James Clark and Reginald Hocking, trading as the Toorbul Fish Company. They sold canned fish from their factory situated on the bay-side of Toorbul Point.  The business was sold to Charlie Godwin for 160 cases of canned mullet in ca1900.  Godwin, an early settler, had bought 250 acres of land in the 1890s, in the area now known as Godwin Beach.  In 1901 the supplies of locally caught fish were so erratic that Godwin moved the cannery to the northern end of Bribie Island opposite Golden Beach.  Godwin’s fish was marketed under the name of “Anchor Brand Sea-Mullet”.

Maloney Bros. Lighthouse brand
Photo courtesy Audrey Abrahams

By 1906 the Maloney Brothers had commenced a fish cannery beside Charlie Godwin’s Cannery on Bribie Island and marketed their product as the Lighthouse Brand. The Lighthouse Brand won a “highly commended” award at the Brisbane Exhibition but by 1910 the cannery closed and the family moved into the oyster and shell-grit industries.

Charlie Godwin sold his cannery for £240 in August 1907 to Lionel Landsborough, son of the pioneer William Landsborough, but by 1909 Landsborough had left Australia to settle in California.

Sarah Balls

In 1907/8 the Federal Government introduced the Bounties Act and Sarah Balls, a well-known entrepreneur from Brisbane, decided to take advantage of the half-penny per pound being offered for preserved fish (including canned). Without widely used refrigeration it was reported that Australians were only consuming 9½ pounds of fish per head, whereas in Great Britain the quantity was 47½ pounds per head and Australia was spending over £300,000 annually on importing canned fish. 

Sarah leased 8 acres on Bribie Island just north of where the IGA stands today.  Fresh water is required for the canning process and this was readily available from the springs that were once used by the Joondoburri people.

Sarah’s “Caloundra Fresh Fish Preserving & Canning Company” were canning sea-mullet, whiting, snapper, bream, flathead, tailor, kingfish and jewfish, packing them in one and two-pound tins bearing the brand “The Diver”.  The Diver canned fish was retailed at 5½ penny though snapper and whiting were a more expensive option. The newspapers extolled the product advising “the fish is deliciously appetising and will undoubtedly supplant imported canned fish as the public were getting tired of the everlasting salmon, herring or sardine”.

Sarah erected a new factory in 1908 which measured 110 feet long by 20 feet wide with 16 feet walls (30 x 6 x 4.5m). 20 people were employed at the cannery producing 200 cases per day with each case containing 4 dozen tins.

Sarah originally employed a manager from Scotland who was experienced in preserving fish. She had to take control in July 1908 when during a “glut” fishermen dumped tons of fish on the cannery wharf during hot weather. Lacking refrigeration some of the fish took too long to be processed and many tins “blew” so the product got a bad name.  Later Sarah hired local men to manage the Cannery, but kept a firm hand on her investment, earning the sobriquet of “Mum-Balls”.

Canning works jetty

A new Linde refrigeration system was purchased in late 1908 and by 1909 “The Diver” brand entered a boom period.  In 1910 Sarah expanded the factory by purchasing the cannery equipment previously owned by Lionel Landsborough.  The Cannery now measured 150 feet x 50 feet (45 x 15m) enclosing a refrigeration and freezing room, an engine and boiler room, four retorts for cooking, and an area to stack the product. Adjoining was a 40ft jetty. 

The main suppliers were fishermen Ted, Julius & Leo Freeman who were paid five shillings per hundred-weight for mullet and one and halfpenny per pound for mixed fish. It was noted that fishermen had benefited in net cash by over £150 in this period. The Freeman’s delivered about six tons of fish at a time onto the jetty where it was scaled, cleaned and filleted before moving into the processing plant.  The tins contained two belly pieces and one tail piece (packed perpendicularly) of mullet all other fish were packed side-wise with a pinch of salt added to each tin.

Sarah diversified in 1913 by leasing a further four acres so she could raise pigs and grow and can asparagus and pineapples. But by 1914 the five-year period of the Bounty had ended and the shortage of tin and men caused by WW1 were impacting on the her business.  The greatest obstacle though was that Queensland fish are mostly “hot water” fish and altogether unsuitable for canning as they contain a large amount of phosphorus and the tendency to decompose rapidly.

Circa 1922. Huet family and
canning works jetty in background.
Source: Vera Campbell photos VC8_42

In August 1914 a newspaper advertisement advised that the Cannery could be leased as a 'going concern', and although Sarah had left the business, the cannery was still operating on a seasonal basis until 30 April 1923 when the lease and equipment was transferred to J.E. Burnard & Co, who were Jam Manufacturers and Fruit Preservers in Brisbane. 

By the 1920s the Cannery Jetty was all that was left of a once thriving business and was a prime spot to get a feed of fish.

REFERENCES                      

Early fish canneries on Bribie Island by Lynne Hooper. 
The Bribie Islander issue 47, June 2018, page 36.

Q150 2009 Fish cannery

Q150 Heritage Plaque - 16 of 16 - Fish Cannery

The Bribie Island Heritage Plaques Waterfront Walk Bongaree consists of 16 bronze plaques located on the "Heritage Walk" along the walking path beside the Bongaree beach from the southern point of South Esplanade and finishes just north of Kangaroo Avenue.

These 16 bronze plaques set on a white concrete square record various aspects of the history of Bribie Island: Record Rainfall, South Esplanade, Campbell's Store, Camping Grounds, Bribie Island heritage quote from A. Meston, Ian Fairweather, First Shop, Bribie Island Heritage quote from Stan Tutt, First Avenue, Fishing Records, Welsby Parade, Bribie Island Wartime, First Car, Shirley Creek, Castaway Convicts and Fish Cannery.

The following excerpt is from the 2009 booklet produced prior to the plaques placement. The Heritage Plaques Waterfront Walk Bongaree project was a Q150 Community Funded Program, initiated by the Rotary Club of Bribie Island and supported by Moreton Bay Regional Council in conjunction with Bribie Island U3A and Bribie Island Historical Society.

A copy of the map for the Bongaree Waterfront Walk can be found at 

http://bribieislandhistory.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/bribie-heritage-plaques-walk.html

FISH CANNERY A Fish Canning factory operated near here from 1910 to 1914 owned by Mrs Sarah “Mum” Balls.  She also had many Hotels and Refreshment Rooms in Queensland and in 1929 built “Santa Barbara”, one of Brisbane’s grandest homes.

Fish Cannery 

This is the only known photograph of the fish cannery showing just the remains of the fish cannery jetty in 1920, long after the factory had been closed and removed. 

No photograph of Sarah Balls has yet been found. 




Why invest in Bribie in 1910?
> Perhaps Mrs Balls knew Norm Congeau, a wine merchant at Fortitude Valley, who would build a fine house built in Banya Street a few years later.
> Maybe she knew of the plans of the Brisbane Tug and Steamship Company to have the excursion steamer “Koopa” built and a jetty constructed at Bongaree.
> Perhaps she was an intelligent and courageous woman with ideas ahead of her time.

Who was Mrs Balls?
> Mrs Sarah Balls (nee Sarah Blasdale) of Hamilton was the enterprising widow of a Scottish builder and publican John Irwin Balls .
> After his death she ran hotels and was the proprietor of several railway refreshment rooms.
> In 1910 she bought a fish cannery located on the northern part of Bribie Island and transferred it to the south near the newly established settlement at Bongaree.
> She expanded her business interests by establishing a small farm just north of the cannery but crops of asparagus and pineapples were not successful.
> The fish cannery closed in 1914 due to shortage of tin, shortage of fish and increased taxes.
> Some years later the cannery was dismantled and moved to Brisbane as a jam factory.
> A few old pile holes from the jetty may still be seen in the rocks at low tide.

How did the Cannery Work?
> Mr Crouch managed the cannery. Bill Wright was the foreman. Other employees included Peter Rich (known as “Peter the Gutter” and also the “Groper King”), “Hoppy” Dixon (who had one leg shorter then the other) and “Gotch” who boiled down fish heads and bones to extract oil and gathered the residue to make fertiliser. The work was hard and the wages were low.
> The cannery building was 45m x 15m and housed an engine, boiler, retorts and storage space.
> In front of the building was a 12m jetty where fishermen delivered their catch of mullet, snapper, squire, bream and flathead. The fish were scaled, cleaned and filleted before being wheeled by trolley to the factory.
> The fish pieces were arranged in 450 gram tins and a pinch of salt added. The tops were crimped and soldered to each tin before being placed in a retort under pressure.
> Tins were checked for leaks before being labeled with the “Diver Brand”. Forty-eight tins were packed in each case and twenty-four cases were produced each day.
> There was a ready market in Brisbane for the canned fish which were transported by boat.
> The canning business was forced to close in 1914 because of a shortage of tin as World War I had started. The building was later moved to Brisbane to continue its life as a jam factory.

What happened after the Fish Cannery closed?
> Some employees stayed on Bribie Island and started the net fishing industry. They continued to buy biscuits and tinned goods from Alfred Hall, a Brisbane shopkeeper, who owned and visited his small house in Bongaree on weekends and brought supplies with him at their request. His business interests on Bribie expanded. 

> In 1930 Mrs Balls had one of the most expensive homes in Brisbane “Santa Barbara” built at New Farm. She lived at “Santa Barbara” and maintained her keen interest in business until her death in 1932. 

"Santa Barbara" in 2009, the house Sarah Balls had built
at New Farm, Brisbane in 1930.