Editing Coffs Harbour (section)

==History==
[[File:Looking west from Moonee Street after a shower of rain - Coffs Harbour, NSW, 1922.jpg|thumb|Looking west from Moonee Street after a shower of rain – Coffs Harbour, NSW, 1922]]

The traditional inhabitants of the Coffs Harbour region are the [[Gumbaynggirr people]], who have occupied the land for thousands of years, forming one of the largest coastal Aboriginal nations in New South Wales. Their nation stretches from the [[Nambucca River]] in the south to around the [[Clarence River (New South Wales)|Clarence River]] in the north and to the [[Great Dividing Range]] in the west.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arrawarraculture.com.au/fact_sheets/pdfs/01_Gumbaynggir_Nation.pdf|title=FACT SHEET 1 Gumbaynggirr Nation|website=Arrawarra Sharing Culture|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617113644/https://www.arrawarraculture.com.au/fact_sheets/pdfs/01_Gumbaynggir_Nation.pdf|archive-date=17 June 2019|url-status=live|access-date=17 June 2019}}</ref>

By the early 1900s, the Coffs Harbour area had become an important timber production centre. Before the opening of the [[North Coast railway line, New South Wales|North Coast railway line]], the only way to transport large items of heavy but low value, such as timber, was by coastal shipping. This meant sawmillers on the North Coast were dependent on jetties either in rivers or off beaches for exporting their timber. Timber tramways were constructed to connect the timber-getting areas, the sawmills and jetties built into the ocean at Coffs Harbour.<ref>''The Timber Tramways of Coffs Harbour'' Longworth, Jim [[Australian Railway History]], June 2006 pp 214–223</ref>