Echuca news

[michael]

Gees I don't know if that will happen, many groups have tried to take Gem away from Swan Hill but the council won't let her go, they'll need a flood to get her to Echuca!
A new paddler hull was launched yesterday(Saturday 13th) on Moama slipway, was constructed near Bendigo. Will attach photo's in the next couple of days if all go to plan
Also PS Oscar W will not be going to Echuca for her 100th Birthday due to unpredictable river levels. If there is enough water she will go to Mildura, then the crew will drive to Echuca for celebations.
Check www.oscar-w.info/ for regular updates

[paddlesteamerman1]

I didnt know they had had previous offers for the Gem and they turned them down, and if  they did decide to move it i think they would have to wait for a while then. I have only ever seen it once and cant remember where it was (in the Pioneer Settlement).

[michael]

Ok lots of news happening in Echuca the last few days. PV Toolarloo I think thats its name was launched Friday (just a hull) and it is tied up at Moama Slipway. Not sure what they go is with it.
Luke came down Sunday and yesterday steamed up Billy Tea. The river is still very low with very little water over the silt at the mouth, keen as he was he used a stump, block and tackle, paddleshaft and rope and winched Billy Tea almost out the wet dock, only getting stuck a metre from the river, with the wheels still thrashing it filled the dock up and she floated out a little more, until Peter McLeod came with PV Pride of the Murray and pulled her right out into the river. Next boat: PS Adventurous was then attached to Prides roped and was also pulled out of wetdock, both vessels tied upstream at the onion patch.
Then we towed Adventurous with the Billy Tea to Browns Slipway, over 2hrs downstream, arriving at 9.15pm. Tieing Adventurous up at the mouth of the slipway, then returning to Echuca in Billy Tea arriving back at 11.30pm.
Have heaps of photo's of the events but computer still wont resize my shots, so I might get Roderick to have a go.

[paddlesteamerman1]

Wow.. busy weekend.. Sounded like a great weekend to be there though.. plenty going on..
I use paint to resize by opening the image then "Control + W" and then putting in the horizontal and vertical boxes "20%"..
It usually works for me

[Roderick Smith]

From a March 2006 e-mail message:
* I called and had a look at 'Tooraloora' at Strathfieldsaye...Engine and drive gear was fitted and they were working on the sponson decks...not that there was anybody there when I called.

I have resized Michael's four photos, and attached them to this posting.

It was good seeing the photos of PS Minimus; I had the opportunity to chat with the owner at a rally earlier in the year, probably Wentworth.

Thursday edit: I misread Michael's post.  The towing photos were taken on Mon.15.10, not Sun.14.  I am editing the captions, but not the file names.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[paddlesteamerman1]

How big is the Tooraloora? It doesnt look very big in this picture...
I like the pictures of the Pride pulling the Billy Tea out of wet dock, but I am sure that it and the Adventurous would be the only two to get out.
Is the Adventurous going to be back in working order at any stage?

[michael]

She's about 60ft long, going to be 2levels, diesel engine, and apparently has good use of space.
The slipway winch is out of action, once its fixed she will go back up and have its sponson decks fitted.
When the owners have a quiet moment at work they will pull Adventurous out and take it to their 'block' in moama, and rebuild her: rebuild hull, cabin and decks, take boiler out and get repaired. So hopefully she'll be looking nice cruising in a couple of years time.
Apparently the wetdock is going to get dredged again in the coming month/s

[paddlesteamerman1]

Wow, a lot bigger than my initial thought.
I would like to see the Adventurous cruising, I have never seen it other than stationery near the wharf.
What do they use to dredge the wetdock? do they bring in a floating  dredge or a landbased one?

[michael]

PV Tooraloora went up on the slip end of last week to have its sponson frames fitted back on. It has its engine/ gearbox and shafts all fitted in the hull, aswell as the paddleshafts made which will be fitted once the sponson decks are on. Which will probebly start later this week as the builder is currently driving his steam truck home from Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally.

[ljhall]

G'Day,

The old wrecked Barge near the Slipway is that the of the Impulse C. 1885, it's definitely not the Scottish Chief, and I've never even heard of the Chieftain.
The old Barge Tam O'Shanter lies in a deep hole up near one of the Riverside Caravan Parks in Moama.
The Impulse Barge was last owned by Evans Bros. Sawmills and often towed by the PS Edwards, but the Edwards sunk in November 1958 and the Mill burnt down the following year, so the barges were left behind to rot away !
The Barge Clyde C. 1884 was apparently lying at what is now 'The Riverboat Dock' up until the 1970's and it was an obstruction for the Pride of the Murray, I heard somewhere that the Clyde was blown up by the Marine Board to free up valuable mooring space.
The Clyde would have had to have been either blown up or broken up sometime in the mid-late 1970's. There are some small sections of planking with bits of her frames still attatched to them on display on the Wharf, the rest of it is probably long gone though.

Cheers,

Leith Hall

[michael]

The Whaler barge is visible beside the slipway, Impulse is over the levey bank and just visible, mostly underground. Tam O'Shanter stem post is visible on low river, apparently there's another wreck underneath her.
Clyde was blown up in the late 1980's in front of Pride's currnet mooring.
PS Adventurous is out of the water and has had it cabin removed, engine taken out and sent to Melbourne to be repaired, all drive shafts, wheel etc have been removed, hull cut in half and another 6m added. 3mm sides. The bottom is 'rooted' so I presume the steel lying beside will replace the whole bottom, looks to be 5-6mm thick, alot better for hitting underwater snags.
Also on the way to a job in the middle of no where I found PV Wanganui, listed in Peter Plowmans latest book, but very little history. Someone is using it as a home.

[stephenf10]

So what is this fragment from? It is on the NSW bank just downstream from the slipway. Taken 10/07.

Stephen.

[ljhall]

Hi,

If the wreck is just a few yards down from the Moama Slipway and on the same side of the river, then it's what's left of the Impulse Barge C. 1885, it was abandoned and left to rot away back in the late 1950's.

The Wreck of the PS Freetrader C. 1872 is located just a short distance downstream on the Victorian side, her remains lie in a deep hole below where the PV Gemma used to be moored before she was damaged and taken out of the river.

Cheers,

[ljhall]

Thanks for the up-date Michael


The owners of the Adventurous certainly haven't mucked around, the boat was only taken out of the river a short while ago.
How come her bottom is so deteriorated, she is really not that old.
I think she was built during 1993/94 and launched in 1995.

By the way, where abouts did you find the Wanganui, I have only seen this boat in Peter Plowman's Book, and I think the photo in his book was taken back in the late 1980's, the boat doesn't look to have changed much except for being taken out of the river.
The Wanganui may have been built around the mid 1980's, she was based initially at Barmah and then downstream at Barham/Koondrook, before returning to the Barmah district.

I was talking with Peter Plowman last year and he said that he had seen the Wanganui in 2005 at Deep Creek Marina, (on dry land and possibly being refurbished ?), - but it doesn't look like much has happened to it !

Apparenlty the P.V. Bull Frog is another boat that is currently out of the river, she is also pictured in the Plowman Book and used to be moored somewhere around Barmah, Last year, Eleanor told me that the Bull Frog was sitting on private property at Undera.

By the way what's the latest on the Gemma ?

Noticed you had some much needed rain on Saturday arvo !

Cheers,

[Roderick Smith]

For the benefit of overseas readers, the photo by Stephen was showing the skeleton of a typical Murray River cod, after a riverbank barbecue by a successful fisherman and 99 friends.  It had been spitroasted on a bed of rivergum coals for 3 days.

Regards
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor