Page 6 - 1977 NAB CalendarMaritime Life in early Australia Part One

THE PADDLE STEAMER ‘ELIZABETH AT ECHUCA (VIC)

FEBRUARY were installed. A loop from the main railway line brought freight trains to the siding on the
wharf where a steam engine can be seen. Much of the river trade was directed from Murray
In 1853 a steamer sailed 1000 miles up the Murray and moored near Henry Esplanade, immediately behind the wharf, where the shipping offices, grain and bond stores
Hopwood's month-old punt on the site of present-day Echuca. This feat of navigation and the Customs House stood. Hopgood’s Bridge Hotel, licensed in 1859 and today restored
opened up the possibility of cheap, fast river transport for the areas around the and reopened, is hidden behind the shed on the right.
Murray River network, where the absence of good roads and railways had made the
slow, expensive bullock team the chief means of transport. Hopwood’s settlement The wool which was the mainstay of the Murray River trade, was transported on barges like
grew into a port whose key position in the river trade was ensured when the railway the one in the foreground, which were skilfully loaded with five tiers of bales; bales of greasy
line from Melbourne was extended to Echuca in 1864. Echuca prospered as the river wool formed the bottom layers, with two tiers of scoured wool bales on the top. The steamer
trade boomed, and by the 1870’s it had become the second largest port in Victoria. towing the barge, the “Elizabeth”, a 66 ton vessel built in Echuca in 1872, is also carrying
wool.
Many of the cargoes were landed onto the river bank before the government opened
its long-promised wharf in 1866; this soon proved inadequate, and by the mid-1880’s Ironically, the railway which contributed so much to the success of Echuca’s riverboat trade,
it had been replaced by the massive 3-decked structure seen in the watercolour. This finally brought about its decline as railway lines linked centres previously served by the river
wharf made from the famous local red gum, was 330 yards long and rose over 38 feet boats. Scores of steamers were laid up, and the gigantic wharf fell into disrepair.
above summer water level. Stairways and landing stages on lower levels gave The Port of Echuca Restoration Project is now carrying out extensive restoration and
access to moored boats when water levels dropped. One of the two large sheds built rebuilding around the t>ld port, which was declared an historic area by the National Trust in
on the wharf can be seen here, as well as two of the eight hydraulic cranes which 1969, and visitors to Echuca today can see the wharf much as it appears in this watercolour
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