Coffs Harbour Removals – You Found Us!

Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs,^[4] is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, 540 km (340 mi) north of Sydney, and 390 km (240 mi) south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census.^[1] The Gumbaynggirr are the original people of the Coffs Harbour region.^[5]

Coffs Harbour’s economy was once based on timber and agriculture. Over recent decades, tourism has become an increasingly important industry for the city. Once part of a region known as the Bananacoast, today the tourist city is part of a wider region known as the Coffs Coast.^[6][7]

The city has a campus of Southern Cross University, and a campus of Rural Faculty of Medicine University of New South Wales, a public and a private hospital,^[8] several radio stations, and three major shopping centres. Coffs Harbour is near numerous national parks, including a marine national park.

There are regular passenger flights each day to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane departing from Coffs Harbour Airport.^[9] Coffs Harbour is also accessible by road, by NSW TrainLink, and by regular bus services.^[10]

Geography

Coffs Harbour is a regional city along the Pacific Highway between Newcastle and the Gold Coast. It has become a major service centre for those living between South West Rocks in the south and Grafton to the north.

Sawtell, 10 km (6.2 mi) south along Hogbin Drive from the city has become a satellite suburb of Coffs Harbour; it is increasingly referred to as being part of the city instead of its own entity as a town.

The surrounding region is dominated by coastal resorts and apartments with hinterland hills and mountains covered by forests, banana and blueberry plantations, and other farms including macadamia nuts, cucumbers, and tomatoes.^[11][12] It is the only place in New South Wales where the Great Dividing Range meets the Pacific Ocean.

The greater Coffs Harbour city is broken up into several suburb and precinct areas, including:

• Red Hill
• South Coffs
• West Coffs
• Coffs Harbour Jetty
• Park Beach
• Diggers Beach
• Korora, West Korora
• Sapphire Beach
• Moonee Beach
• Emerald Beach
• North Boambee Valley
• Boambee, Boambee East
• Toormina
• Sawtell
• Bonville

The city is surrounded by many towns and villages in the Coffs Coast region, including:

• Coramba
• Nana Glen
• Corindi Beach and Red Rock
• Karangi
• Ulong
• Upper Orara
• Woolgoolga

History

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 in the north and to the Great Dividing Range in the west.^[13]

By the early 1900s, the Coffs Harbour area had become an important timber production centre. Before the opening of the 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.^[14]

Demographics

According to the 2021 Census^[18] the population of suburban Coffs Harbour is 78,759. This is an increase from 72,944 in 2016. 52.6% of the population is female in contrast to the national average of 50.7%. The average age is 43, which is higher than the national average of 38. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.6% of the population.

75.5% of residents reported being born in Australia; higher than the national average of 66.7%. Other than Australia the most common countries of birth are England (3.2%), New Zealand (1.3%), Myanmar (1.1%), India (0.9%) and Germany (0.5%). 62.2% of residents also reported both their parents being born in Australia, considerably higher than the national average of 47.3%. 82.1% of people spoke only English at home.

The top religious affiliations in Coffs Harbour are Catholic 20.0%, Anglican 17.9% and Presbyterian and Reformed 3.9%. 29.3% declared no religion and 11.1% did not submit a response.^[18]

Climate

Coffs Harbour has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa according to the Köppen climate classification system) with hot, wet summers and short mild winters, with marked seasonality of rainfall. The city is relatively sunny, receiving 122.1 clear days annually, higher than Brisbane and Cairns but not as sunny as Townsville. Summers are moderately hot, wet and humid. Winters are mild with moderate rainfall. There is a history of floods in the city, with major flooding occurring in the years 1917, 1938, 1950, 1963, 1974, 1977, 1989, 1991, 2009 and 2021.^[19]

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