January 2014 - Geelong to Port Elliot

Setting off again, we spent the Australia Day long weekend at lake Burrumbeet just west of Ballarat.

This caravan park has been under new management for the past 3 years and the new management have worked hard to clean out a lot of the old permanents and make the place somewhere nice to stay.  The lake was closed to boating due to a blue/green algae bloom as a result of the extremely hot weather of the previous week.  We spent a lot of time fishing which resulted in one eel and numerous carp, some of which would have been around 5 pound.

Mannum in South Australia is on the Murray river about 60 kilometres upstream from Tailem Bend.  Last time we were through here on our way to Renmark about 5 years ago, we saw a sign saying that Mannum is known as the birthplace of the Murray river paddle steamers, so a visit back here was high on my bucket list.

We took the short cut from Murray Bridge up the east side of the river which meant that we had to cross the river on the ferry once we got to Mannum.  There are 2 ferries that operate at this crossing with one of them operating 24/7, the latter being able to carry a fully loaded truck. 

We stayed in the Mannum Caravan Park which is just adjacent to where the ferry lands.  Lovely caravan park right on the river and very close to the main street for shopping.

We got the boat into the river and tried out the new fish finder that we got for Christmas. 

I couldn't believe my eyes at the amount of fish we saw as we motored slowly along.  This was backed up by the amount of fish we saw jumping and near the surface.  I have been told not to get too excited about fish jumping, as native fish in the Murray don’t jump, so what we were seeing are carp.  This was backed up by another big carp that we caught.

The first few days in Mannum were over 40 degrees so we didn't venture too far from the air conditioner in the caravan but when it cooled off a bit, we visited the Mannum Dock Museum which is the home of the fully restored Paddle Steamer Marion. 

PS Marion was built in 1897 and is one of the last operational, heritage, steam driven, wood fired, overnight passenger carrying side paddle steamers in the world. 

The Marion started work as a barge and was fitted with a superstructure and steam engine in 1900. The engine was built by Marshall & Sons of Gainsborough, England and it is still the same engine fitted to the Marion today.  The Marion had various owners and ports along the Murray during her working life, the last owner being Murray Shipping Limited. In December 1934 she left Morgan for the first of what became regular Summer cruises. She went upstream as far as Renmark, then down to Goolwa and back to Morgan. After Murray Shipping Limited went into liquidation in 1952, Marion was sold a number of times and spent some years as a floating boarding house in Berri. In 1963, Marion was bought by the National Trust to be used as a memorial to the River Navigation Era. She sailed down river to Mannum under her own steam on what was then thought to be her last voyage. 

For over thirty years Marion rested in the historic Randell Dry Dock at Mannum, where the local branch of the National Trust maintained her as a static museum. In 1989 the Mannum community and Council decided that the best way to preserve the Marion for future generations was to conserve and restore the boat to being fully operational. The Mannum Dock Museum was appointed to manage and develop the facilities and opportunities of PS Marion and Randell Dry Dock as the core of the Mannum Dock Museum of River History.

Major restoration work was undertaken with great love and attention to detail. This work has involved many tens of thousands of volunteer man hours. The superstructure has been restored to what it was in her heyday as a passenger steamer, with cabins, lounges, dining room, galley and bathrooms. Marion was recommissioned in November 1994 and still takes day and overnight cruises to this day.

While the PS Marion has been fully rebuilt and is still operational, the real history of paddle steamers on the Murray River lies inside the Mannum museum.

Mannum’s early history developed around the personal desire of William Randell to operate a steam boat on the River Murray.  

Randell and his 2 brothers carefully selected redgum logs from  around Gumeracha and dragged them by bullock team to the spot where they were cut into planks by pitsaw.  The hull was prefabricated and then carted 48 kilometres across the hills and river flats to the river where it was put together .  

In late 1852, the Mary Ann was launched and the engine was fitted.  It was a 7 to 8 horse power beam engine with 10” cylinders.  The boiler which is the only surviving relic of the Mary Ann was oblong in shape and proved to be very dangerous.

It had to be reinforced with chains and wedges to stop it from blowing apart.  Some say it was built this way as the engineer had no idea of what he was doing, but more likely the engineer didn’t have access to steel suitable for rolling into a cylindrical shape.  

In 1853 Randell launched his Paddle Steamer “Mary Ann” at Noa-No landing, 5 kilometres upstream from the present site of Mannum.

This was the first paddle steamer on the River Murray in South Australia and it pioneered the navigation route to the stations along the Murray, Murrumbidgee and the Darling Rivers, and in the early years, the gold fields of Victoria.

William Randell’s family were pastoralists in the Mannum area where they grew wheat and operated a flour mill.  The Mary Ann was used to deliver flour along the river as well and as far away as the Victorian gold fields.  Randell was the first to navigate the river from Swan Hill to Echuca and later on as far up as Albury.

Boys will be boys and the competition to navigate the river upstream from Mannum was on.  The following photos taken of pictures in the Mannum Museum depicts the story of the race between William Randell on the Mary Ann and Captain Cadell on the Lady Augusta.

The river trade opened up a transport network all along the river system, and in 1877 David and John Shearer established a blacksmith and farm implement business in Mannum and used the river system to market and distribute their goods.  This company which is now known as Howard Bagshaw is still operational in Mannum today and is the mainstay of Mannum’s economy.

The museum also houses other interesting things from around the area.  This fish fossil found at Overland Corner in South Australia is said to be between 15 and 20 million years old.

 

This photo taken of a Murray Cod which was believed to be between 75 and 112 years old measured over 6 foot in length

The replica wheel house of the Paddle Steamer Emily Jane is an interactive exhibit which gives visitors the opportunity to “captain” a paddle steamer and get the feel of what it is like to navigate your way along the great Murray River.

This museum presents river history at its best and it is a credit to the volunteers that put so much effort into it.

Where there are rivers there are floods and Mannum is no exception.  The last “1 in 100 year flood” through here was in 1956 when the river peaked at 5.1 metres or 16.7 feet.  

1956 flood level shown by the dark grey paint around the wall

There is a high level mark painted inside the visitors information centre which highlights just how deep the water was.  Back in 1956, this was the mechanics workshop so it is easy to imagine the huge losses that the town would have suffered during that period.  The whole bottom floor of the Pretoria Hotel was flooded but they kept trading by removing some of the hand rail from around the second story balcony so the boats could tie up and people could still come in for a drink.  

This photo is of a painting in the Mannum Museum depicting the main street at the height of that flood.

 The Murray Princess is another beautiful old stern wheeler that operates 3, 4, 5 and 7 night cruises from Mary Ann park just off the main street.  

This is a 1,500 tonne ship which is the biggest ship operating on inland waters in the southern hemisphere.  It can carry 120 passengers in comfort and has a draft of just 1.2 metres.

We have been through Tailem Bend many times and have seen the signs for Old Tailem Town on the Adelaide side of town so we decided to have a look.  We were lucky enough to have an half hour chat with Peter, the owner who grew up on this site and had the grand plan to collect all this old stuff and display it all in one place. He started 30 years ago and is still adding more every year. It would be great to see a lot more of the machinery restored and on display instead of just seeing it in sheds. We were disappointed that the 3 big machinery sheds where all the old working engines are stored were not open on the day we visited. Apparently these displays belong to somebody else and they are only open when that person is there. All in all it was a good experience, but I think that a lot of the old buildings will need some maintenance shortly if this attraction wants to continue getting visitors.

All the shops and commercial buildings like the garages, boat shed, picture theaters and hotel are full of authentic artifacts from 50 or 60 years ago, sadly we could remember most of these things from our youth.

About 100 kilometres up the river from Mannum is the town of Blanchetown which is home to lock 1. Locks and weirs on the Murray River were built to hold the water level back and raise the level to enable water to flow into irrigation channels.
We stayed at Blanchetown about 6 years ago and remembered a fantastic chicken parmy we had at the local pub. We went back to the same pub for lunch and yes, the parmy was still just as good.
During our travels in the past, we have covered almost the full length of the Murray River from the Snowy Mountains on the north west border between Victoria and NSW and now this trip takes us to Lake Alexandrina, where this mighty river meets the sea after winding for 2530 kilometres from its beginning.

Lake Alexandrina has a surface area of 64,900 hectares. At the southern end of the lake there are a series of about 20 islands, the biggest is Hindmarsh Island which is about 4,716 hectares in size. This island is reputed to be the largest island in the world with salt water on one side and fresh water on the other. Dairy Farming used to be big on this island but since the drought, all the dairies have closed down because of the lack of water. There is now only 1 farm on the island with beef cattle and sheep. A lot of the areas on the island that are near the coast have man made canals and big housing developments have shot up around these canals.
Goolwa is on the Fleurieu Peninsular and about 10 kilometres from Pullen Spit where the Murray meets the Southern Ocean. 

There is access to the Murray mouth by four wheel drive along the Sir Richard Peninsular beach from Goolwa, but the Spirit of the Coorong also operate a 2 hour cruise down the Murray, through the Goolwa Barrage, across the opening where the Murray meets the Southern Ocean and onto the Younghusband Peninsular. The 10 year drought has changed this area dramatically as there was no water flowing down the river, the Southern Ocean washed a lot of sand in through the mouth and the whole area is very shallow. Interestingly enough, the actual position of the Murray mouth has changed by 6 – 8 kilometres over the millennia, as this area is all sand and the wind and waves keep eroding the sand away. 

The Murray River meets the Southern Ocean

When the big waters come down the river, they find the easiest way to the sea which may not necessarily be the same place where the last flood waters washed through.

The waters through this area are part of the Coorong National Park, so all sorts of bird life thrive through this whole area, including birds which migrate here from colder countries to feed during their winter.

We stayed at the historic shipping town of Port Elliot right on Horseshoe Bay which is a lovely little beach just 60 metres walk out of the back of the caravan park. It’s nice to go to bed at night and hear the waves crashing on the shore.
Port Elliot is central to Victor Harbor and Goolwa which are only about 10 kilometres in either direction. 

Paddle Steamer "Oscar W" at Goolwa

Back in the early 1850’s, Port Elliot was planned to be the export shipping port for the goods coming down the Murray River by paddle steamer into Goolwa. A railway line was constructed to carry the goods the 15 or so kilometres from paddle steamer to export sailing ship. This was South Australia’s first railway venture with the line opening in 1854. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that Port Elliot was a bad choice as a harbour. A lack of shelter for shipping and the shallow anchorage made conditions dangerous to even the smallest ships. Seven ships were wrecked between 1853 and 1864 and it was decided to relocate the port facilities to nearby Victor Harbor. Horses provided traction power until steam was introduced in 1884. Two horses often worked coupled together and were changed as necessary at intermediate stations. In 1875 records show that the railway operated 29 horses, travelling 7,000 miles per month. A typical working life for one of these horses was 14 years. 

These days this railway line is a tourist railway called The Cockle Train which skirts within 100 metres from the Southern Ocean travelling between Victor Harbor and Goolwa. During the cooler months this train is pulled by a steam locomotive, but as the fire season is in full swing, our train was pulled by a restored 1960 diesel electric rail motor.
Further down the peninsula from Port Elliot is the town of Victor Harbor. As with the other 5 harbours in South Australia, Victor Harbor is spelt without a “u” . It is surmised that this probably originated from a spelling error made by an early Surveyor General of South Australia.
With the horse drawn train line being extended into Victor Harbor from Port Elliot to transport the goods being brought down the Murray to Goolwa, more piers needed to be built for the sailing ships to dock. 

600 metres off the mainland from Victor Harbor lies Granite Island which was selected as an ideal place as it is sheltered from the Southern Ocean by a rocky outcrop. In 1867 a deputation to the Commissioner for Public Works resulted in the continuation of the original pier in a direct line to Granite Island. This extension became known as "The Causeway". The line continued onto and around the northern edge of the island to where a Working Jetty was constructed. In 1881 an additional jetty, protected by a breakwater, was built. The Screw Pile Jetty still stands today and is used by local fishing vessels and pleasure craft. 

The horse drawn tram operates as a tourist tram now days and is a pleasant way to get out to the island.
Granite Island has a small colony of Little (Fairy) Penguins which is in terrible danger of being wiped out. 

The wild penguin numbers have reduced dramatically all the way down to about 30 as a result of the New Zealand Fur Seal colonies taking over their habitat and also killing them as they return to the island. 

The island has a penguin rescue and rehabilitation centre for injured birds but government red tape will only let them have 10 at a time. Pity that red tape is stopping more of these little penguins being rehabilitated and returned to the wild, especially in light of the fact that they are in such rapid decline on Granite Island.

As with everything mechanical, maintenance needs to be done if things are going to continue to operate correctly. It is just 12 months since we picked the caravan up so I gave it it’s 12 month service. Everything is running well mechanically so a grease, wheel bearing check and brake adjustment was all it needed to prepare us for the trip across the Nullarbor. 

New anode on the right

I also changed the sacrificial magnesium rod anode in the hot water service and couldn't believe just how badly the old one had corroded as compared to the new one that I fitted. A good idea for all caravaners to keep an eye on anodes as they really do prevent a lot of corrosion problems inside the hot water system.

From here our travels take us across the Yorke Peninsular to the Copper Coast and the town of Wallaroo.