In the years between convict settlement and the start of the modern tourist industry the area most people worked in the timber industry and fishing. The area was not suitable for big farms. There are some fruit orchards and some small mixed farms. The area was isolated until a regular river steamer began sailing from Port Arthur to Hobart in the 1880s. From 1900 to the 1930s the main shipping company was the Huon, Channel & Peninsula Steamship Company. They owned several ships including the M.V. "Cartela".