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History of the Paddlesteamer Era

Abandoned steamboats and barges, tall red gum wharfs, small towns that show evidence of once having been much larger, old station homesteads that face the Murray, all these are constant reminders to the river traveller of the days when hundreds of steamers raced along the Murray, opening up large areas in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.  For many settlers they were the only source of supply and contact with the outside world.

After Sturt first discovered and named the Murray in 1830, it was over twenty years before the first two steam-boats made their way upstream.  In 1853 the “Mary Ann” skippered by William Randell, and the “Lady Augusta” under Captain Francis Cadell, ran an unexpected race up-river, each sure of being the first to open up the Murray for traffic.  The “Lady Augusta” passed the “Mary Ann” arriving at the tiny settlement of Swan Hill only hours before the “Mary Ann”.  The few settlers along the way greeted both with much enthusiasm and hospitality.  Randell took the “Mary Ann” on up to Moama, while Cadell, after travelling a short distance upstream, turned back for Goolwa.

By 1860 there were seventeen steamers trading and operating on the river, and by 1863 the new town of Echuca had a population of 300.  Less than ten years later the population was 1,600 and Echuca was Victoria’s second largest port, with 240 boats annually trading in all types of goods, particularly wool.  Steamboats pushed up the Darling, Murumbidgee, and Murray rivers and the many small tributaries, opening up just on 4000 miles of waterway, and making it one of the longest navigable lengths considerably.

Land serviced by the Murray-Darling system was rapidly opened up, as transport of produce was assured and supplies of equipment, labour and stores become readily and cheaply available.

But even before the turn of the Century, railway lines were linking many river towns with the larger cities and the steamboat era was already passing.  Eventually boats were tied up all along the Murray waiting for work that never came.  Some sank or were broken up.  A few ran halfway into this century, as fishing boats, logging steamers and passenger boats.  The paddlesteamer “Industry” was still operating as a snagging steamer in the ‘bottom end’ well into the 1960’s.  During the 1958 floods “P.S. Success” was put into commission to take wool from flood bound stations on the Darling, and passenger steamers still operate on the Murray, taking tourists along the peaceful reaches of our biggest river still navigable for1240 miles.

Interest in restoring and using old steamboats has been revived, and there are some like the “Etona”, “Melbourne” and “Enterprise” which, to the delight of steam enthusiasts keep their steam engines in defiance of diesel power.  Others like the “Pyap”, “Coonawarra” and the “Murray River Queen” carry on the tradition of the passenger steamers and provide interesting and unusual excursions for visitors.  Hopefully, there will be more like these.

As the river trade declined and skippers left the river, many of their old charts were lost or destroyed, but a few were kept and still remain in private collections, museums and libraries.  These tell the story of the Murray and the steamboat era as well as any novel.

Navigation of the Murray has always been intermittent because of variations in river levels from month to month and year to year.  As far back as 1863, proposals were for improvement of the Murray River system.  Irrigation began in Victoria in the 1870’s and made it imperative that an agreement be reached between the three states concerning distribution of Murray waters.  Full agreement was reached between the states and the Commonwealth in 1914, and the River Murray Agreement incorporated in the River Murray Waters Act of 1915 forms the basis of the work of the River Murray commission.  The agreement allows for conservation of dams, weirs and locks, maintenance of these, snagging and dredging, conservation and control of Murray water and apportionment of water between three states.