About Change Islands
The incorporated (1951) community of Change Islands, is built along the shores of a long and narrow tickle that separates the two largest islands. The islands are connected by a single-lane causeway-bridge. There have been fishermen on the islands since the latter half of the eighteenth century when the Labrador fishery rose to prominence.
With the introduction of modern fishing technology and the closure of the northern cod fishery, the population census was reduced to 360 in 2001.
Despite the introduction of modern conveniences, Change Islands still retains the "look and feel" of the last century and still maintains a fishing tradition. Most of the house styles and the lifestyles are from another time. White painted, narrow clapboarded homes sit in well-kept green gardens facing the main tickle or the open sea. Fishing stages and stores painted in the traditional red ochre colour line the shore. Small boats still traverse the numerous harbours, tickles and coves around the islands.
Until 1783 Change Islands was part of the French Shore and unpopulated but with the beginning of the English Labrador fishery in the later half of the Eighteenth Century and the setting up of establishments by the (British) Bristol and Poole merchants, Change Islands began to be settled. The population was sparse until the mid-Nineteenth Century. In 1845 the population was 316, ninety-six of whom were fishermen. Five acres of land were cultivated and potatoes were grown. By 1884 the population had increased to 934. Many fishermen from Change Islands went to the Labrador fishery and in 1874 Change Islands was one of the focal points of the winter seal hunt.
At the beginning of the 20th Century Change Islands was a prosperous settlement of over 1,000 people. In 1909 the first annual meeting of the supreme council of Coaker's Fishermen's Protective Union was held at Change Islands. After the depression of the 1930s the settlement declined and during the 1950s, although Change Islands gained some new citizens from resettlement, over 100 people left in search of better education for their children and better employment opportunities. In 1965 the causeway-bridge was built and motor vehicles arrived for the first time on Change Islands.
A ferry service running between Change Islands and Cobb's Arm replaced the CN Coastal Boat Service from Lewisport in 1967. The Island in now serviced year round by the M/V Capt. Earl W. Winsor, Provincial Ferry Service, Government of Newfoundland & Labrador.
above edited from the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland & Labrador, Volume One
Newfoundland Book Publishers (1967) Limited, Third Printing (1994).
Editor in Chief: Joseph R. Smallwood
Managing Editor: Robert D.W. Pitt