Rob Moxham

The Hawkesbury River is an old river and its lower reaches had long been a breeding ground for the iconic Sydney rock oyster.

Located on Sydney’s door step, it was also home to a comfortable and long established traditional Sydney rock oyster industry that supplied Sydney with the popular seafood.

Some would argue that the river had had its hey day and was settling into retirement.

But in 2004 the Sydney rock oysters in the Hawkesbury were struck down by QX Disease, a disease that had never been seen in the River before.

1.31.59 It was absolutely 100% gone. It was completely gone, the industry which had been on the river for over 100 years was absolutely gone. 1.32.11

Rob Moxham is a fourth generation oyster farmer on the Hawkesbury, the River had been his life.

He and his team of workers farmed hundreds of thousands of the gourmet Sydney rock oysters every year.

The oysters were caught locally and grown on traditional sticks and trays on those iconic timber post supported racks that dot the lower reaches of the River.

A system which had been advanced for its day, so advanced that it had not changed much for over 50 years.

Within 12 months of the outbreak of QX disease, the traditional cultivation of the Sydney rock oyster on the River had come to an end.

Soon, with no income, two thirds of the farmers on the river were forced from business.

If you wanted to survive – you had to think outside the box.

1.33.50 There was a lot of support for the oyster farmers that were left. I mean some people had to leave for one reason or another, they were too old, or financially they couldn’t stay, but the ones that did stay and the new people that came into the industry, there’s been a great deal of support. 1.34.05

And much of that was from the NSW Government.

The then NSW Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, helped the farmers back on their feet with a $3.1 million rescue package. 1.37.40 If he wouldn’t have had faith in the oyster farmers that we were fair dinkum to do something, not just looking for a golden handshake, I think that the industry probably wouldn’t have recovered. 1.37.50

It wasn’t a handout – the farmers had to work hard for it and they did.

The goal, was to return the Hawkesbury river to its former glory.

The oyster farmers that were left on the river, got stuck into cleaning up – removing dead and dying stock that was harbouring the disease from their leases. They also removed oyster lease infrastructure that was no longer viable.

Once the river was cleaned up of more than eight thousand tonnes of dead oysters and growing materials, they set to work doing what they do best – farming oysters.

They had to reinvent the way they farmed which involved adapting their farming practices to embrace new single seed oyster technology.

This technology would enable them to take advantage of hatchery reared faster growing disease resistant Sydney Rock Oysters, that had been developed by Industry & Investment NSW, following the QX outbreak that had devastated the Georges River in the 1990’s

It also enabled them to grow hatchery reared sterile triploid Pacific oysters which were not susceptible to QX disease.

New environmentally friendly single seed oyster technology based on recyclable plastic began to replace traditional tarred timber products used on oyster leases.

Their determination began to pay dividends for them, the River, and the local community.

The future was to be cleaner and greener.

All of a sudden, it seemed QX disease may have breathed new life into the Hawkesbury.

1.33.04 Probably ten years ago I would have maybe thought being a fourth generation farmer I might have been the last generation to be an oyster farmer, but actually since we’ve had QX and been working with different government departments like Industry & Investment NSW, Parks and Wildlife, the local CMA’s etc I can see that all these people are working for the same goal. 1.33.30 There is now a growing realisation that the health of the river and the health of the oysters are fundamentally linked. Oysters are now seen as valuable environmental indicators, often compared to the Canary in a cage, that in old times, miners would take underground to warn of dangerous environmental air conditions. The oysters and the farmers who watch over them provide a crucial early warning system for water pollution. These farmers now take great pride in the health of the river and the quality of the oysters that come from it.

1.39.09 The river has had oysters in it since there was a river, and the river needs oysters in it so the health of the river really depends on these oysters as well. 1.39.19

The NSW Government has introduced the Shellfish Quality Assurance program, a mandatory industry funded program in which oyster farmers monitor water quality and their oysters in all the oyster harvest areas in NSW. This program not only provides early warning of potential water quality problems, it also gives consumers confidence they’re eating the best product available. Now, production in the Hawkesbury is growing steadily, back to bout 70 per cent of what it was before QX and there’s plenty of room to grow.

These farmers have seen some tough times, but not as tough as they are.

Rob Moxham is here to stay – he helped bring the river back to life, and unite the farmers that were left. He is confident the Hawkesbury will once again be recognised as one of the State’s most important Sydney rock oyster fisheries.

The Hawkesbury river is now cleaner, and more sustainable for the public to enjoy.

1.35.32 I think we are definitely growing some of the best oysters in the world. 1.32.35