described as an RW Miller ship when in fact it was on charter to that company from its actual owners McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co. Ships of course were bought and sold and changed ownership, while still carrying coal cargoes for their new owners; sometimes the change in ownership also resulted in the ship's name changing, such as when the Corrimal became the Ayrfield. In contrast to the sixty-milers, the owners of the interstate coastal ships were usually more traditional ship-owners, some of whom specialised in carrying coal and coke. Coal ports & operations Northern Coalfields — Hunter Valley & Lake Macquarie Region Coal from the northern coalfields was loaded at Hexham on the Hunter River, Carrington (The Basin, The Dyke) near Newcastle, on Lake Macquarie, and at the ocean jetty at Catherine Hill Bay. In the early years of the trade, coal was loaded at Newcastle itself, on the southern bank of the Hunter River, at the river port of Morpeth, and at a wharf at Reid's Mistake at Swansea Heads. The coalfields to the north of Sydney had the advantage that the Hunter River and its estuary, while not ideal, could be used as a port. Mining commenced on the northern fields first. The first coal mines were initially operated by the government using convict labour. Sporadic mining operations started around what is now Newcastle and, in 1799, a cargo of coal was shipped to Bengal aboard the Hunter. The first "permanent" mine at Newcastle was opened in 1804. When Newcastle ceased to be a penal colony in 1821, the government continued to operate the mines. Commissioner Bigge had recommended that the mines be given over to private operation. In 1828, there was an agreement struck between the Secretary of State for colonies and the Australian Agricultural Company that made coal mining a monopoly of that company. One other company was able to persuade the government to allow it to mine coal from 1841, the Ebenezer Colliery at Coal Point on Lake Macquarie. The monopoly was broken when challenged in 1847 by the Brown family, who began mining coal at Maitland and using the river port of Morpeth and undercut the price of coal mined by the AAC. Coal was accessible in many places throughout the Hunter Valley and on both the eastern and western shores of Lake Macquarie. Once the monopoly was broken, many mines were soon in