Pride of the Murray
Built in 1924 by Murray River Sawmills, The Pride commenced life as an outrigger barge and is 82 feet 6 inches long and 16 feet wide, with a depth of about 5 feet. She was named C24, a number which can still be seen at the bow of the boat immediately under the deck. C24 was owned by the Murray River Sawmills and in 1956 was used in the construction of the new bridge at Barmah, a small riverside township located in the world’s biggest redgum forest.
She was towed upstream to Barmah by the Oscar W under the charge of Captain Paddy Hogg was let go to drift downstream with the current, steered by a chain dragged from the stern.
At the end of her working life as a barge, instead of mooring her adjacent to where the Moama Centenary Wharf is now located (the usual place for all the Echuca barges); C24 was left on the Victorian side of the river just upstream of the Echuca-Moama bridge. In 1973 restoration was commenced and the C24 barge was refloated from the Echuca wharf slipway in 1977 as The Pride of the Murray.
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