Weekly Chat, Sunday March 7

Continuing SA history . . . Paddle steamers were an important means of transport far up the river system of the Murray, Darling, Murrumbidgee rivers and the many small tributaries, opening up 4000 miles of waterway. The first boats on the River Murray in 1853 took food to Swan Hill, the closest point to the Victorian gold diggings. The wood-fired steamers towing barges took supplies (food, fencing wire) up to small settlements & stations along the river, bringing back wool. Snags (fallen trees submerged in the water) and seasonal low water were problems.

Some boats were floating general stores. The "Etona" was a Church of England mission boat bringing religion to isolated settlers on stations & farms, woodcutters camps, fishermen & riverboat families. The river preachers also helped teaching children, giving medicine and delivering babies.

Goolwa (near the mouth of the Murray), Mannum and Morgan became important river towns for trade and boat building. The other colonies were not happy and soon customs houses were set up to tax the river traders. (Each colony had its own government.) The railway from Melbourne reached Echuca in Victoria in 1864, thus taking trade from SA.

In SA a horse-drawn railway was opened between Goolwa and Port Elliot in 1854. Two years later a broad gauge (5’3") steam railway opened between Adelaide & Port Adelaide. The railway reached Kapunda in 1860, and went on to Morgan in 1878 to connect with the paddle-steamers, but by the 1890s river trade had declined, unable to compete. The railway reached Burra in 1870. (The mine closed in 1877.)

With the opening of land to farmers in the 1870s & 1880s, railways were built short distances to the nearest ports to export the grain. These lines were narrow gauge (3’6") to save costs. In 1917 the Trans-Australian railway connected Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie in WA. This was standard gauge (4’8½"). By this time Australia had 3 different gauges as each colony had built its own railways. NSW standard; VIC & SA broad; TAS, QLD, WA & parts of SA narrow gauge! This meant that someone travelling from Perth to Brisbane in 1917 had to change trains six times.

Country towns sprang up in SA as "break-of-gauge" towns where railway travellers and goods had to be transferred. This caused major problems in WWII and took many years to resolve. The final connection to standard gauge was made in 1995.