The Murray River

The Murray is Australia’s largest river, and the world’s fifth largest. Or, the fourth largest, if you consider the tributary Darling River as part of the Murray. By the time the rivers join at Mildura, seven rivers have made their contribution to its waters, which are added to by waters of eastbound rivers being pumped over the mountains by the Snowy Mountain scheme.

Nevertheless, its mouth was completely missed by explorer Captain Matthew Flinders, who was the first person to establish that Australia was one conterminous land mass. But, that wasn’t due to Flinders’ lack of observation. The Murray flows into Lake Alexandrina, which is masked from the sea by a 150-mile-long sand bar called the Younghusband Peninsula.

The river did serve as a transport link in the past. Side-wheel paddle boats used to ply the river carrying passengers and produce, most of them fairly small. Some of these have been preserved, are steamed occasionally and sometimes cruise on the river.

The Murray Princess

There was some controversy when the Princess was built. ‘The traditional Murray steamer was a side-wheeler’ said the Captain ‘but we wanted the maximum breadth to accommodate our passengers, and still be able to pass though the locks further up-river’.

Normally, the route of the Princess doesn’t pass through any locks. But, once in a while, a ‘special’ cruise is on offer, which takes passengers further up the river, passing through the area known as the Riverlands, an area of fruit farms and wineries.

Our cruise didn’t go that far north, but we had a sampling of the produce of those fertile fields. One night, we had a tasting of food produced within sight of the river. Wine and olive oil, cheese, sausage and, of course, fruit. All were on offer, and, at the end of the evening, all that was left were empty plates.

Although it carries the prefix ‘PS’, the Princess isn’t actually a ‘steamer’. It’s diesel-engined … but since the last true steamer I sailed on used to cough gobbets of soot out of the funnel, and over the passengers, that’s a misnomer I’ll happily forgive!

The Princess is based at Mannum, about 50 miles east of Adelaide, at the Mary Ann Reserve. Here, in 1852, Captain William Randell built the first-ever Murray paddle steamer, the Mary Ann.

Waiting till we could board the boat, we spent lunchtime sitting by the riverside trying not to share our meat pies with an over-friendly pelican. The Murray Princess was moored close by, its maroon and cream colour scheme promising laid-back luxury. The ship lived up to its promise. The season hadn’t quite got into its stride yet, and we were only eighteen souls aboard a ship that could carry 120.

Captain Ray Weedon, the Master, was highly visible. He told us about his ship, the history and geology of the river and the wildlife we would see … and we could knock on the door of the wheelhouse and speak to him any time.

‘We haven’t had any rain to speak of since 1990’ he told us ‘The river’s hardly flowing!’ But then, he told how the willow trees were planted on the banks in bygone years to show the true course of the river in flood time. ‘Otherwise, when the water went down, your boat could be left high and dry half a mile from the river!’

The stretch of the Murray we cruised along is where the citizens of Adelaide like to spend their weekends and holidays in their ‘shacks’, or holiday homes. Most of the time, the steamer was accompanied by water-skiers or jet-skiers, who would use the waves thrown up by the giant paddle to add an extra thrill to their ride.

And, whenever we passed a settlement of shacks, children would hold up placards, or call to the Captain ‘Sound your horn’. It would seem that, after twenty years, the novelty of the Princess still hasn’t worn off.

But, the horn was reserved for warning the many ‘punts’ (chain ferries) of our approach or, during a ‘shore stop’, to warn anyone ashore that the ship would sail in 30 minutes.

We moored overnight on the riverbank, where the only facilities were a notice telling the times the Princess used the berth, and requesting other river users to stay clear at these times. On one occasion, we took a nature walk, conducted by the First Officer, who pointed out some of the wildlife, and showed us a ‘canoe tree’, from which Aborigines had long since removed the bark to make a canoe, but still left the tree alive. He also showed us the native Red Gum, which provided fuel for the old steam boats.

There are some places too shallow for the Princess to go. So, one afternoon, we transferred to the Dragonfly, a smaller boat, for a ‘wetland safari’. We could make a closer inspection of the red cliffs that flank the Murray around here, and watch the swallows darting in and out. And, we could get up really close to the pelicans and cormorants.

Murray Bridge is the first bridge (or, nowadays, two bridges) to be encountered as you journey upriver from the mouth, and the next one is at Blanchetown, about 70 miles upriver. Between them, the usual way of crossing is by means of a chain ferry. Before the bridge was built, the Aborigines called the place Pomberuk, and this is the name of the Aboriginal centre, almost under the shadow of the bridge. Here, we saw a display of Aboriginal dancing, and didgeree-doo playing before being conducted around the Aboriginal museum and visited the chocolate factory. And no, we didn’t take any home. What we bought was finished long before we got on the plane!

The only disappointment was one morning, when we rose before dawn to take a walk to the cliff-top to see the sun rise; a sight we were told wasn’t to be missed. We were up there at 6 am; unfortunately, the sun wasn’t! But, we can’t be too hard on the crew or the organisers. That really is beyond their control.