Evans Head is a town in Richmond Valley Council of the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia.

Evans Head is home to the Illawong Hotel, an RSL club and one of the largest holiday parks in NSW, parts of which are pet-friendly.

March 1963 the Fisherman’s Cooperative of Evans Head was the base starting point of the journey of the Friendship R, the first fishing trawler to circumnavigate Australia.

[10]: 11 & 7 The Friendship R was originally contracted by the CSIRO to teach the fishermen at Shark Bay near Carnarvon WA , the art of trawling for prawns.

[10]: 9 Leaving Evans Head the trawler journeyed south, stopping at Coffs Harbour, Broken Bay, Sydney, Eden and on to Port Fairy in Victoria.

They then headed West to Port Lincoln and then across the Great Australian Bight to Western Australia aided only with a compass and a book of charts.

[10]: 11 & 12 As it turned out the fishermen at Shark Bay had already had been mentored by Jack Drinan, a skilled Queensland prawner who was in charge of six trawlers all named Nor but numbered one to six.

This was the same Jack Drinan who was shipwrecked on 26 April 1963 and declared lost, but was sensationally found seventeen days later, in the open sea, clinging to the trawler’s refrigerator door.

[10]: 12ff [12] In the company of Drinan and his surviving boats the Friendship R saw out the rest of the fishing and prawning season, while domiciled at the Shark Bay whaling station.

[10]: 17 In October 1963 Montford and Messenger decided to leave Carnarvon and return to Evans Head by the top end of the Australian continent.

Fortunately, Reg Massey, skipper of the Rambler sensed something was wrong, doubled back, found the Friendship R and towed it into the port of Darwin.

Messenger left for other pursuits and Rex Montford lived out his life in Evans Head, honoured and respected by the local population.