factory at Woolwich and was built in 1891–92. Coal exports During the period from 1860 to what was almost the peak of Wollongong's coal trade in 1889, coal exports increased more or less with the capacity of the port to service it. In 1870, 70,000 tons were exported rising to over 700,000 tons in 1889. In 1885 Wollongong Harbour cleared 1,624 vessels. The average annual export of butter from the port was 1,600,000 pounds. The port of Wollongong was now at its peak, and in terms of cargo handled was the third largest port in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle. This importance was to be short lived. The impact of the increasing coal trade at the harbour was most evident between the 1860s and 1920s when the harbour was encircled by railway lines. From the 1860s it was the central port for all the Illawarra collieries. The timber coal staithes, provided high level loading facilities that allowed coal to be tipped into chutes directly into the holds of the sailing ships and coastal steamers that visited the port. However, the escalating activity at the harbour reduced the public amenity of the area and was a contributing factor in the move of the town focus to Market Square in the 1870s and subsequently to Crown Street in the 1880s when the government railway came to Wollongong. The Wollongong Harbour Trust Act of 1889 empowered its commissioners to construct a convenient, safe and commodious harbour and to develop an extensive dock or basin in Tom Thumb Lagoon connected to the Harbour. Earlier in 1885, the NSW Government had sought the advice of the British engineer Sir John Coode, a leading authority on harbour design and construction who had visited Wollongong in 1885. Coode's proposal, that was adopted by the commissioners, was to form a harbour enclosing an area of 107 acres by means of two breakwaters, the Eastern Breakwater running north from Pulpit Rock and the northern one in a south easterly direction from Para [now Fairy] Creek. Some evidence remains today of the start made on the northern breakwater which was to run from Pulpit Rock. However, in the depressed times finance was not forthcoming and the work was abandoned. Early in 1893 a start was made to construct a breakwater running north from the Breakwater Lighthouse, but this was halted after only 240 feet had been built. Competition