Mannum in Flood! 1956

[lner]

Not strictly Paddler related, but I finally have got around to scanning some colour (no this is not a typo) photos of the 1956 flood in Mannum.  For those not familiar with the Murray, the '56 flood is by far the biggest flood the Murray has seen in the last hundred years and since the locks were built the general consensus is that we will never see anything this big again.

Anyway, now I have these photos, if there is any interest I can upload them to the site for posterity.

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's......but I was only 7 years old then ..the year of the 56 Olympics & the Mannum flood.........so please Martin....post  them........ .....

[lner]

Will do!  Watch this space!

[Roderick Smith]

I have never been sufficiently brave to cruise into Lake Carlet, even with more water: not because it is shallow, but because of the weeds.  The photo shows no weeds.  In another year, I will be braver.

I too have been hoping for Martin's long-promised 1956 flood photos.

1956 has been mentioned in other Paddleducks threads, including a coverage of the 2006 50th anniversary commemoration events at Wentworth and from Renmark to Goolwa, keyed around PS Oscar W, a display in barge Dart, and supported by the work boat MV Nalta Yuki and lots of local paddeboats.

Australians grew up on the humourous poem 'Said Hanrahan' ('We'll all be rooned said Hanrahan, before the year is out...').  This is recommended reading for those of you elsewhere to interpret this thread of photos.  See www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/txt/1573.txt, and google for background explanations.
Along with 'My country' ('I love a sunburnt country...', it explains the wide variations in seasons in inland Australia.  See www.anointedlinks.com/my_country.html.

Flood/drought isn't unique to Australia.  Only a few years ago, the Rhine was so low in the section near Koblenz that even paddleboats could operate.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[lner]

I have never been sufficiently brave to cruise into Lake Carlet, even with more water: not because it is shallow, but because of the weeds.  The photo shows no weeds.  In another year, I will be braver.

I too have been hoping for Martin's long-promised 1956 flood photos.

Please be very careful if you plan to venture in there in anything bigger than a tinny!

We had an interesting situation about two years  ago where about seven people a couple of block & tackle arrangements and an earthmoving tractor were unable to free a small cruiser which tried to turn around in the lake. Yes parts of it are able to be navigated if you know where to go (I do not) but one family arranged a slalom run down the centre a lot of years ago.

If you are interested in seeing Roderick, can I suggest we arrange a W/E when you are cruising past and I can take you down there in the dinghy and outboard?  Certainly is worth seeing and indeed there are some interesting caves about half way down.  Oh and yes there are reeds/weeds and other exciting impediments. 

Were you looking at the upstream or downstream entrance?

Photos are in my photo gallery including a shot of Lake Carlet from Google Earth.  Please note this is pre-drought images.  Those little satellites are a little slow out here