Harrington is situated 30kms east of Taree at the mouth of the Manning River. On the nearby headland that over looks the town 41 ships have been wrecked and many lives lost.
A pilot station was established at the town in the early 1860's and the pilots job was to get the ships, that weighed over 500 tonnes, across the treacherous bar.
The breakwall which now defines Harrington and its relationship to the river was built between 1894 and 1904. The rock for this engineering feat was transported by rail from a quarry which can still be seen on the south side of the Crowdy lighthouse. The wall, once proudly home to wharves and tugs, proved only a limited success because the prevailing winds and natural movement of the sand by ocean currents built up an even larger sand bar across the river mouth.
The river mouth is now not normally navigable by ocean going ships, but the breakwall is an extremely popular location for local anglers.