The State Heritage Inventory - one year on The State Heritage Inventory (SHI) was launched on the internet just over a year ago and has grown to include a listing of over 17,500 heritage items of State, regional or local significance. These include archaeological sites, shipwrecks, buildings and industrial structures, monuments, cemeteries, conservation areas, movable items and collections and both natural and cultural landscapes.

The State Heritage Inventory can be accessed via the Heritage Office Home page at: www.heritage.nsw.gov.au

The initial Inventory information has been augmented by the addition of items listed in Local and Regional Environmental Plans over the past year and by full descriptions of items recently covered by Interim or Permanent Conservation Orders. Many Government agencies, local government and heritage professionals have received their free State Heritage Inventory software and over 40 organisations have been trained in its use. Over the next six months the SHI team will be working with Government agencies to include State-owned heritage items within the inventory. The Heritage Office is also working with community organisations to include non-statutory listings such as the National Trust Register. For more information or to book training sessions for Government agencies, local government or heritage professionals, please contact either Susan Bell on (02) 9849 9559 or Stewart Watters on (02) 9849 9561.

What's on the
inventory?

Coffs Harbour Jetty A landmark and focal point for Coffs Harbour for over 100 years, the Coffs Harbour Jetty is also an award-winning heritage item of State significance. Built in 1892, it is the largest remaining timber jetty in NSW. It is the only remaining large ocean jetty, of timber construction, in NSW that dates from the 19th century.

This year the jetty was winner of a National Trust Heritage Award. The NSW Department of Public Works and Services received the award in the Organisation and Government category for conservation work completed in 1997. Last month the jetty was highly commended in the Conservation category of the Institution of Engineers, Australia Awards.

Coffs Harbour Jetty was the largest timber jetty constructed by the Harbours and Rivers Section of the NSW Department of Public Works between 1880 and 1895. Today it is the only surviving example of the three ocean jetties built on the North Coast.

Construction began on the timber jetty in 1889 after much campaigning by local residents for a government jetty that would make it easier for them to transfer goods to and from anchored boats. Timbers such as Ironbark, Grey Gum, White Mahogany, Tallowwood, Grey Box and Turpentine - most of them obtained from the local area - were used in its construction. The new jetty stretched 500m into the harbour, and by the turn of the century hundreds of vessels made use of its facilities. In the 1910s and 1940s it was widened and strengthened.

The jetty was last used by commercial shipping in 1974 when all trade from the port of Coffs Harbour ceased. Fisherman dangling their lines from the aged timber platform became the major users of the historic jetty. In 1990 it was closed to the public for safety reasons.

Conservation work by the Department of Public Works and Services started in February 1996. The jetty was considered significant for its method of construction, materials and the changes to its form over time. Those conserving the jetty in the 1990s used the same method employed by its builders 100 years ago: driven timber piles.

Salvaged timbers and new hardwoods were used for the conservation work. A new fire fighting system, safety fence, lighting and 3,600 metres of new decking were installed. New items such as the lighting, hand rail and seating contrast sympathetically with the old, but are clearly identified as new fabric. Signs and anew information shelter built adjacent to the jetty help to interpret its history and significance.