SWPV Dromedary [Murray River, Australia]

[Roderick Smith]

This new (2007) vessel, known only as 'Temporary' when at 2007 Wentworth Junction Rally, has been sold to new owners.  They run a camel farm upstream of Cadell (SA), and so have given the boat the permanent name 'Dromedary'.  This not only reflects their business, but evokes the nickname of the camel 'Ship of the desert'.  How apt for the Murray today.

It left Mildura on Mon.24.3 on its delivery voyage.
Speculation: it got stuck on a sandbar in the Warrakoo; they phoned for help, and the unhelpful lockmaster replied: 'Stuck on one hump or two?'.

I haven't posted a photo; I didn't take one of this vessel at 2007 Wentworth Junction Rally, although I did go aboard.  Michael posted a photo of it under construction at Mildura: APAM lopm thread, page 7.  I am not certain which of the eight is it, but I suspect that it is the one under the roof.  I haven't found photos from Michael of the 2007 rally which may include the boat in the water, as SWPV Temporary, but with the superstructure not yet completed.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

Member Michael Smith has supplied a photo of SWPV 'Temporary' at the 2007 Wentworth Junction Rally (Sat.7-Sun.8.7.07).  Strictly it was unnamed, but the nickname had wide currency amongst other paddleboat people.  The tanks at the front were to achieve correct weight balance pending the fitout.

The website for the owner's safaris is www.safarico.com.au

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I found a photo of the boat in action at 2007 Wentworth Junction Rally, taken and posted by Michael.

Track through
Paddleducks > Paddler Information > Preserved Paddle Ships  > June - July 07 Murray River cruise [Australia]

or try the direct link
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2369.0;attach=3101;image

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

Here is a photo of SWPV Dromedary at its new home, a camel farm upstream from Morgan (South Australia).
The photo was taken by Bruce Perrott.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

SWPV Dromedary is used to support adventure tours, and has embarked on a fresh adventure: getting up Darling River nearly as far as Pooncarie (where Burtundy Weir is normally a permanent blockage).  This involves passing the tree at 62 km which is the normal head of navigation.
The river distance is 230 km.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Mike Smith]

Roderick,

I have attached an additional link to the Mildura Weekly which has the same photo as on the cover of the publication but without all the text written over it.

http://www.milduraweekly.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/darling-21.gif

Regards

Mike Smith

[Roderick Smith]

I received a message on Saturday: 'I understand that SWPV Dromedary has made it to Pooncarie, and will start her downstream/return trip on Mon.14.2'.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

As reported earlier in the thread, in high water in 2011 Rex Ellis took Dromedary up the Darling to Pooncarie bridge.
This inspired me to do the same with Jessie II: I launched at Pooncarie, above the bridge, and came downriver.
Rex gave me help and advice by telephone.
The trick is to have enough water to go above Pooncarie Weir, but not too much or the bridge is too low.
For taller vessels, powerlines over the river must be watched.
I had the night light and the radio aerial down, and got under the bridge with centimetres clearance.
I had eyed off the prospect of going to Menindie. I would have had to consider fuel logistics if I had to chicken out part way, and time. In the end, I didn't do it.
I am inspired again, and would love to go in tandem, but the time is quite impossible.

On Sun.17.12 morning, ABC radio in Adelaide boadcast a May interview with Rex talking about his plan to try and get Dromedary up the Darling as far as Wilcannia.
Here is just the online text:
Paddlewheeler trip up the Darling. Outback Safari Guide Rex Ellis loves a challenge and the current water levels in the Darling River have provided
him with the ideal opportunity for yet another adventure.  Rex is planning to set off on June 11th from Wentworth in New South Wales to see just how far he can get upstream with his paddlewheeler the Dromedary.  But Rex realises it won't be all plain sailing.  The 60 foot vessel will have to negotiate the Pooncarie Bridge and Menindie Weir.
The wheelhouse will have to be removed to pass under the bridge while Dromedary will have to be put onto a massive trailer at Menindie.
891 Weekends with Ashley Walsh is planning to follow Rex's adventure each Sunday morning.
Go to
<http://blogs.abc.net.au/sa/2012/05/paddlewheeler-trip-up-the-darling.html?s
ite=southeastsa&program=adelaide_sunday>
This links to the full 6 min interview.

IIRC, the Darling was more important as a navigation river than the Murray.
The state railway systems built very rapidly to compete for the Murray and
Murrumbidgee trade.
The original western railway from Sydney was aiming for Bourke, and got
there. Even so, there was a lot of territory served only by river,
principally wool exports out, and supplies for properties in. Bourke was
regarded as the end of civilisation, and the phrase 'Back o'Bourke' became
Australian vernacular for the remote, uninhabited and inhospitable regions
of the centre of the continent.
In 1927, the NSW railway line to Broken Hill (a mining city hitherto served
only via SA) crossed the Darling at Menindie, with a bascule road-rail
bridge.
Later, the Menindee Lakes scheme put a permanent barrier over the river. It
was designed to provide Broken Hill with permanent water, and could buffer
over several years of drought.
The bascule mechanism was removed from the bridge c1970 to improve
clearances for double-stack containers on the Sydney - Perth railway.

Wilcannia has a lifting-span bridge, almost certainly unusable.
Bourke has a lifting-span bridge which is preserved, but bypassed with a
modern bridge.
It also had the first navigation lock in Australia, but that was filled in
during the 1940s.
Bourke is the home of tourist boat PV 'Jandra', operating in the weir pool.

Today, regular navigation of the Darling is only for the 60 km in the pool
of lock & weir 10 (Wentworth), and is stopped by a fallen tree. Lots of
boat people prefer it to the Murray, because it is narrower and better
defined. It does form a portion of the 'Spirit of the Coorong' commercial
cruises.

Rex's adventure tours are described at <http://www.safarico.com.au/index.html>.

Enclosed:
A photo from William Davies (sent via a paddlesteamer researcher) showing
Menindie bridge 'back in the days', which Rex is recreating.
My own photo of the bridge before the bascule mechanism was removed. Those
listening to the interview will pick up the comment 'like a gutter'.
Jessie II, lining up in ferocious current to pass under Pooncarie bridge.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

From gossiping over the last week: Dromedary has reached a weir 180 km below Menindie, and is waiting for the water to go over that weir.
I was in a pub one night with the operator of the trailer which took other boats around Swan Hill bridge when it couldn't be opened, and who has been lined up to take Dromedary to the upstream side of Menindie Lakes weir when it gets that far.
The new aim is Wilcannia, and I haven't checked to see what stops Bourke being the aim.  It has another weir, which had Australia's first lock, but the lock was filled in in the 1940s.  The Bourke lifting-span bridge is preserved as an inoperable monument (a new bridge takes the traffic).  IIRC, the last opening bridge going upriver was at Brewarrina.  Further up, low-height fixed bridges have been built.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Mike Smith]

Two good articles in the latest edition of the Mildura Weekly. One on the PS Melbourne's birthday and the other on SWPV Dromendary's trip up the Darling. Refer hyperlink.

http://issuu.com/mweekly/docs/mwvol6no46

[Roderick Smith]

Mildura Weekly can be slow to download, hard to read, hard to print and even harder to save.
Since I am an ISSU subscriber, I have done the work.
Here is the Dromedary article as a jpg, with the same resolution as the original.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

This 1.7 interview with Rex seems to be the current state of play too: still at Pooncarie.
<http://blogs.abc.net.au/sa/2012/07/paddlewheeler-trip-up-the-darling.html?site=brokenhill&program=adelaide_sunday>
Paddlewheeler trip up the Darling.
Dropping water levels in the Darling River have put a temporary halt to a trip upstream by Outback Safari Guide Rex Ellis.
Rex had planned to take his paddlewheeler the Dromedary as far as he could up the Darling after setting off from Wentworth in New South Wales on June 11.
The vessel is now stuck at Pooncarie, just upstream of the town bridge.
Because of the falling water levels, the 60 foot vessel was able to pass under the Pooncarie Bridge without the need to remove the wheelhouse.
The next big challenge was to negotiate the Menindie Weir.
Listen to Rex and Ashley talking about plans for the trip on May 20, 2012.
Download the audio file
Listen to Rex and Ashley talking about the trip from Wentworth to Pooncarie on June 17, 2012.
Download the audio file
Dropping water levels in the Darling mean that the Dromedary is now stranded at Pooncarie.
Listen to Rex and Ashley talking about where to from here on July 1, 2012?
Download the audio file
adelaide_Sunday

Regards,
Roderick

[Roderick Smith]

In May, SWPV Dromedary reached Wilcannia (NSW): major NSW wool port 'back in the days', and a significant achievement in today's environment.

ABC 1 Landline on Sun.17.11 has a story on SWPV 'Dromedary' on Darling River.
It is at 12.00, repeated at 23.00 on ABC News 24 and again on Mon.18.11 on ABC1 at 11.00.

Usually the transcript of these programs is available online, and usually the whole program.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Mike Smith]

For those who were unable to via the program on the ABC then the following link will take you to their web page where you can view this segment

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-16/up-the-darling/5097084

[Roderick Smith]

I used that link.  Like most transport videos, padded with lots of other material to appeal to a wider audience.  In this case the padding was relevant and an education even for Australians.  River and wool history are intertwined.  It is about one third Dromedary and two thirds wool.  The river scenes capture the mood well.  The Darling is narrower than the Murray, with steeper banks: its own character.  If I had had the time, I would have been following this adventure in my own boat; those conditions are what the type is designed for.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor