Museum grant helps conserve
‘Korff’s Harbour’ Collection
The April floods of 2009 may have left the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum without a home, but it
has not stopped staff from getting on with the business of conservation.
With the help of $4250 funding from the Australian National Maritime Museum, they are in the
process of restoring their collection relating to the founder of Coffs Harbour John Korff.
Korff named the bay after he sought shelter from a wild storm in 1847, but it was misspelled as
Coffs Harbour by the surveyor when the town site was reserved in 1861.
Thanks to local volunteer effort, the Korff Collection items were moved to safety before the floods
hit. “We are focused on conservation and research at the moment rather than exhibition,” said
Director of the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum and Gallery, Dr Leigh Summers.
The Korff Collection includes two telescopes, a daguerreotype, a family scrapbook and a well
worn bible “with the usual jottings about children and the look of much personal use,” Dr
Summers said.
The items have wider national significance. Korff was well known in Sydney maritime circles as a
shipbuilder and the founder of the Balmain and Manly ferry lines.
His story is a quintessentially Australian one. Fleeing bankruptcy in England in 1820, Korff left his
wife and four children behind to make a new start in the colonies.
Once in Australia he met with success. He made some capital when he built a cutter from a
salvaged shipwreck he called Rover's Bride, and started turning a regular profit when he built
Victoria, whose design expertly navigated the shallow waters of the Hunter River bar to transport
passengers and cargo in and out of Newcastle.
However, competition from the introduction of iron ships soon threatened his financial situation
and he was faced with bankruptcy once more. He was saved by his wife Mary who arrived in
Sydney from London in 1840 with 1000 sovereigns strapped around her waist and his adult
children in tow. Korff re-established his business with his sons and built a number of successful
vessels including Brothers, the vessel on which he took shelter in Coffs Harbour.
“John Korff is an interesting figure in Australia’s maritime history,” said Australian National
Maritime Museum Director, Mary Louise Williams. “We are pleased to be able to support the
conservation of these items through the Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme
(MMAPPS).”
The Korff Collection is currently being restored by a Coffs Harbour based conservator.
The MMAPPS scheme, which the museum funds with Australian Government’s Distributed
National Collection Program, helps regional museums, community groups and volunteers to
promote and protect Australian maritime heritage. For more information, phone (02) 9298 3777 or
15 January 2010
Australian National Maritime Museum - Bill Richards (02) 9298 3645; 0418 403 472
Images and interviews are available upon request from brichards@anmm.gov.au
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