Looking at Australia's riverboat history.
The Emmylou
I've just done a little Australian road trip stopping at places along the Murray River in northern Victoria. One of my stops was the town of Echuca, it has a strong connection to the era of steam paddle boats. These boats were used along the Murray to transport goods and people, Echuca by the 1870s was the third largest port in Australia, after Melbourne and Sydney! (Both of which were major cities!) It was also the largest inland port, its location and the arrival of the railway contributed to its prosperity. White settlement at Echuca began with an enterprising freed convict who had built a ferry crossing over the Murray. Its location at the closest point on the river to Melbourne is what really launched Echuca into its heydays. Boats would unload their cargo at the Port of Echuca wharf and then it would be transported by rail to Melbourne.
Echuca's decline happened in the 1890s with the opening up of more rail connections, road connections and some devastating drought years that lowered the level of the river and so made river transport unreliable. Echuca's main industry is now tourism, people visit to experience life on the river and learn about its historic pass. The Port of Echuca Discovery Centre is a well set up living museum to Echuca's past. Loving anything historical, it was a must visit location for me.
The Discovery Centre has a model of what the wharf looked like during its peak, boats would have to queue up and wait until a space became available at the wharf for them to unload. By the 1880s the wharf measured 333 metres, over the years it had been demolished and now a section of it has been reconstructed. The paddle steamers would tow barges which were piled with cargo, they were real work horses.
The main cargo was wool, this was collected from sheep stations along the Murray, taken to Echuca, unloaded, the loaded onto trains to be transported to Melbourne and then shipped to the U.K.
When visiting the Discovery Centre you can either just walk around it and see the exhibits or pay another fee and go on a a paddle steamer. I chose that option as I saw there was a boat making a trip at 2pm and I was there at 1.30pm. The ship I went on was the Pride of the Murray. As I was going on an afternoon cruise the price included a Devonshire Tea, of 2 scones, jam and cream plus tea or coffee. I was happy with that!
Pride of the Murray coming into port.
From the river you get a good look at the reconstructed Echuca wharf and the fleet of paddle steamers nearby. Echuca has the largest collection of working paddle steamers in Australia.
A sawmill was next to the wharf and barges were loaded with redgum logs and brought to the sawmill, they were then dragged up the banks using strong winches. Interesting little fact from the boat commentary, was that redgum logs sink, they don't float like you see with scenes of Canadian logging. That meant to transport them they had to be loaded onto to barges like this one and then the paddle steamers would pull them to the mills.
This is the PS Adelaide, the world's oldest working, wooden paddle steamer, she was built in 1866. In her early years she transported wool from the sheep stations along the river and she was a part-time passenger ship bringing ladies to town to do their shopping. In her later years she was used to bring logs to the sawmill and she worked in that capacity until 1958! She was eventually sold, spent some time out of the water as a static display and then restored in the 1980s.
Once past the wharf area the boat cruises along the river, past the houseboats that are the main river traffic nowadays.
I loved the name of this houseboat! Echuca has moorings for privately owned houseboats, the owners tend to live in Melbourne and drive up for the weekend. I noticed they all had barbecues and outdoor seating!
Once back on land I headed towards the wharf area and this little fellow, plus a couple of not so brave ones came and sat on the railings. It's an iconic picture of Australia a kookaburra, the Murray River and a Paddle steamer!
I was quite excited to see this boat, I didn't think the Etona existed anymore. Years ago when studying local history I had read about the different paddle steamers and I thought the Etona had the most interesting story. The original Etona (this is the second one) was a Church of England ship that carried a minister along the Murray to different communities as there were no churches. The first Etona came to the end of its life and money was raised for the new ship by the boys at Eton College, co-incidentally the then Anglican bishop of Adelaide had also been an Eton student. The ship was named Etona in appreciation of the money donated by the boys. She was retired in 1912 when the communities along the river had built churches, she then was sold to different owners. (Here I thought she was then broken up, but apparently not!) Eventually she was brought to Echuca and restored. She has her little cross on the wheel house to show she was a missionary ship.
The path through the Discovery Centre takes you under the wharf, it has been reconstructed. Once the river trade had died away the wharf wasn't in use and wood from it was used in Melbourne (for fire wood!) during World War I.
The railway siding from where goods were transports by rail to Melbourne.
The Port of Echuca Discovery Centre is open every day except Christmas Day, 9am to 5pm. I paid $34 for entrance to the centre and for the one hour boat cruise, as I did the combination of both there was a discount, so more expensive if both were bought separately.
It's well worth exploring the centre and do the boat cruise as well, it all gives you a wonderful idea of what Echuca was like during the peak of the riverboat trade era.
I've just done a little Australian road trip stopping at places along the Murray River in northern Victoria. One of my stops was the town of Echuca, it has a strong connection to the era of steam paddle boats. These boats were used along the Murray to transport goods and people, Echuca by the 1870s was the third largest port in Australia, after Melbourne and Sydney! (Both of which were major cities!) It was also the largest inland port, its location and the arrival of the railway contributed to its prosperity. White settlement at Echuca began with an enterprising freed convict who had built a ferry crossing over the Murray. Its location at the closest point on the river to Melbourne is what really launched Echuca into its heydays. Boats would unload their cargo at the Port of Echuca wharf and then it would be transported by rail to Melbourne.
Echuca's decline happened in the 1890s with the opening up of more rail connections, road connections and some devastating drought years that lowered the level of the river and so made river transport unreliable. Echuca's main industry is now tourism, people visit to experience life on the river and learn about its historic pass. The Port of Echuca Discovery Centre is a well set up living museum to Echuca's past. Loving anything historical, it was a must visit location for me.
The Discovery Centre has a model of what the wharf looked like during its peak, boats would have to queue up and wait until a space became available at the wharf for them to unload. By the 1880s the wharf measured 333 metres, over the years it had been demolished and now a section of it has been reconstructed. The paddle steamers would tow barges which were piled with cargo, they were real work horses.
The main cargo was wool, this was collected from sheep stations along the Murray, taken to Echuca, unloaded, the loaded onto trains to be transported to Melbourne and then shipped to the U.K.
When visiting the Discovery Centre you can either just walk around it and see the exhibits or pay another fee and go on a a paddle steamer. I chose that option as I saw there was a boat making a trip at 2pm and I was there at 1.30pm. The ship I went on was the Pride of the Murray. As I was going on an afternoon cruise the price included a Devonshire Tea, of 2 scones, jam and cream plus tea or coffee. I was happy with that!
From the river you get a good look at the reconstructed Echuca wharf and the fleet of paddle steamers nearby. Echuca has the largest collection of working paddle steamers in Australia.
A sawmill was next to the wharf and barges were loaded with redgum logs and brought to the sawmill, they were then dragged up the banks using strong winches. Interesting little fact from the boat commentary, was that redgum logs sink, they don't float like you see with scenes of Canadian logging. That meant to transport them they had to be loaded onto to barges like this one and then the paddle steamers would pull them to the mills.
This is the PS Adelaide, the world's oldest working, wooden paddle steamer, she was built in 1866. In her early years she transported wool from the sheep stations along the river and she was a part-time passenger ship bringing ladies to town to do their shopping. In her later years she was used to bring logs to the sawmill and she worked in that capacity until 1958! She was eventually sold, spent some time out of the water as a static display and then restored in the 1980s.
Once past the wharf area the boat cruises along the river, past the houseboats that are the main river traffic nowadays.
I loved the name of this houseboat! Echuca has moorings for privately owned houseboats, the owners tend to live in Melbourne and drive up for the weekend. I noticed they all had barbecues and outdoor seating!
Once back on land I headed towards the wharf area and this little fellow, plus a couple of not so brave ones came and sat on the railings. It's an iconic picture of Australia a kookaburra, the Murray River and a Paddle steamer!
I was quite excited to see this boat, I didn't think the Etona existed anymore. Years ago when studying local history I had read about the different paddle steamers and I thought the Etona had the most interesting story. The original Etona (this is the second one) was a Church of England ship that carried a minister along the Murray to different communities as there were no churches. The first Etona came to the end of its life and money was raised for the new ship by the boys at Eton College, co-incidentally the then Anglican bishop of Adelaide had also been an Eton student. The ship was named Etona in appreciation of the money donated by the boys. She was retired in 1912 when the communities along the river had built churches, she then was sold to different owners. (Here I thought she was then broken up, but apparently not!) Eventually she was brought to Echuca and restored. She has her little cross on the wheel house to show she was a missionary ship.
The path through the Discovery Centre takes you under the wharf, it has been reconstructed. Once the river trade had died away the wharf wasn't in use and wood from it was used in Melbourne (for fire wood!) during World War I.
The railway siding from where goods were transports by rail to Melbourne.
The Port of Echuca Discovery Centre is open every day except Christmas Day, 9am to 5pm. I paid $34 for entrance to the centre and for the one hour boat cruise, as I did the combination of both there was a discount, so more expensive if both were bought separately.
It's well worth exploring the centre and do the boat cruise as well, it all gives you a wonderful idea of what Echuca was like during the peak of the riverboat trade era.
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