Initially, supplies for the goldfields came by sea through Port Stewart. Coen was a major supply centre for the area and also a staging point on the overland routes, the nearest inland settlement at that time being Lakeland 300km to the South.
Land transport by horse or bullock wagon was the rule until motor vehicles arrived in the late 1920's followed some years later by airplanes. World War II saw Coen elevated to an advance Army and Air Force base which resulted in the construction of the present airfield.
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