Lillian Colless had her dream come true when a monument to the fishermen of Evans Head was unveiled yesterday, Saturday, February 24 as part of a Fishermen’s Reunion weekend.
The monument honours the fishing industry – in the 1950s there were 70 trawlers fishing out of Evans Head.
Lillian has been a volunteer at the Evans Head Living Museum for 22 years and has been working towards and waiting for the day that Evans Head had its own fishing monument.
The Sydney Fish Market contributed $10,000 towards the statue with Lillian and the museum raising the rest.
The stone statue stands tall at more than 2metres high and faces where the first Fishermen’s Co-op was built in 1946.
In the 1960s, the fisherman collected timber and built a wharf for a new co-op across the river on the south side where the current co-op stands today.
In the 1950s–60s, trawlers were catching up to 2,700kg (6,000lbs) of school prawns every day in Evans Head.
Prawns were packed in wooden boxes lined with newspaper, transported to Casino Railway Station, and sent by train to the Sydney Fish Markets at Woolloomooloo.
Only one commercial fishing boat remains in Evans Head but today there were four trawlers in the harbour for the Blessing of the Fleet.
And there were about 200 people at the unveiling yesterday. Greg Dyer from Sydney Fish markets and Richmond Valley mayor Robert Mustow made speeches.
In the design of the statue, Lillian made sure the figure wore what was typical clothing when fishing in the 50s – a double-breasted shirt with pockets, shorts and sandshoes.
The day before the unveiling, Keith Smith from Beckinsales Monumental Masons went to Brisbane to pick up the statue.
Lillian has spent her life fishing – with her father and later, her husband.
“My husband and I have fished all over the world including in Third World countries,” she said.
Lillian said there was a plaque still to come to be attached to the plinth of the monument. You can see the statue, down past the memorial gardens.
It’s been a full-on weekend with visitors, dinners and speeches spun into history and memories.
The presence of the tall stone fisherman on the shores of Evans Head couldn’t be more fitting.
Read more about the reunion here.
See all the pictures at indyNR.com.
This article appeared on indyNR.com on 25 February 2024.
