Big Rigs and Paddle Wheelers.
I’m not a regular reader of “Big Rigs” (The Trusted Voice of the Transport Industry) but when I stumbled across this story accompanied by two great little videos I knew we should pass it on
Some Background
Originally built at Echuca in 1924 by C Felshaw for the Murray River Sawmills, PRIDE OF THE MURRAY took a team of twelve men between three and four months to complete. Initially she was a red gum logging barge for the PS Adelaide, the then named C24 transported logs from the Barmah Forest to Murray River Saw Mills at Echuca. After World War II, the paddle steamers and barges were no longer used, and she was abandoned on the banks of the Murray in the 1950s. In 1972, Max Carrington dug it out from the riverbed sediment and transported it to the Moama slip where he began restoring and converting the old barge into a paddle boat, complete with a diesel engine.
She was named the PRIDE OF THE MURRAY in honour of a paddle steamer that sank at Echuca in 1866.
PART ONE- From May 26th Edition of “Big Rigs”
In a truly mammoth and unique transport task, an historic 100-year-old paddlewheeler will make its way across three states, travelling on a 1700-kilometre journey to its new home.
It’s believed to be the largest ever move of a boat of this size by road in the Southern Hemisphere. The much-loved vessel will travel from Victoria to Longreach in Queensland’s outback, with Freightlancer tasked with co-ordinating the logistics of the move.
It will travel on a 26-metre long, 8.7-metre wide gooseneck float trailer built by Drake, that’s rated at 192 tonne; pulled by a 700hp Volvo FH16. Warrick Corney of Freightlancer admitted this freight task was certainly one that has kept him up at night for the past four months.
“This is unique for us and it’s unique for the Australian transport industry. I’m yet to check the data thoroughly but I believe it’s the single largest boat move in the Southern Hemisphere by road. It’s specialised equipment, specialised drivers. That’s difficult in itself and takes months and months of planning,” Corney said.
“Then we’ve got the issues of jumping through the legislation hurdles – of permits and police and power companies, it just goes on and on. We have to lift powerlines, we have to make sure that we don’t hit any trees of power poles, or any roadside furniture like signs and things like that, all the way from here to Longreach. It might sound easy but it is a massive undertaking,” he continued.
The massive job of lifting the delicate 100-tonne PRIDE OF THE MURRAY vessel from the Murray River in Echuca has been completed, with the epic road trip set to get underway soon.
According to previous skipper of The PRIDE OF THE MURRAY, Neil Hutchinson, this is only the second time the paddlewheeler has ever left Echuca.
“The first was last year when she went to Swan Hill to put it on the dock for maintenance work,” he said.
The paddlewheeler was purchased by Queensland grazier and tourism entrepreneur, Richard Kinnon of the Longreach-based Outback Pioneers.
“Everyone thinks I’m mad. To build a purpose-built boat from scratch would have been a significantly cheaper option but it didn’t meet my own brief which is for our Longreach-based tourism operation to remain true to history,” explained Kinnon.
“When I found out the Pride of the Murray was looking for a new home, I knew I’d found a genuine outback pioneering artefact we just had to preserve. The only problem: this perfect piece of Australian history is giant and 1750 kilometres from Longreach.
“As we got here and I was standing on the back of her, and her sister boat went past, you won’t believe it, I felt sad because these pair of sisters have passed one another for 100 years and it was pretty emotional for me because it felt like I was taking her away from her mates.”
The age and construction of the vessel was another hurdle in the move; meaning it can only be out of the water for a maximum of seven days, before the timber begins to shrink, so timing is also crucial.
Corney added, “This is not a move that has ever been attempted before in Australia. However, the Kinnon’s have that true pioneering spirit in spades and are so dedicated to history conservation, we’re going to make the impossible, possible.
“It’s an extremely delicate operation. It’s a 100-year-old boat we are lifting out of the water and putting it on top of a trailer before we drive it from Victoria to Queensland. The route we have specifically chosen because it’s quite straight and had less obstructions for a mega road train.”
PART TWO- From June 14th Edition of “Big Rigs”
It’s been a mammoth move that’s captivated many along its journey. Over the weekend, the PRIDE OF THE MURRAY made it to her new home.
It crossed the Queensland boarder on Friday and made the slow and steady journey into Longreach.
As it arrived at Thomson River, Kinnon said, “There’s 60-80 tonne sitting there on that trailer, 154 wheels and many a corners between here and Echuca, many obstacles, but I must say the most inspiring thing of the whole trip has been the outback communities, the outback people welcoming us into their communities and waving us goodbye out of them.
“The following we’ve had and the support we’ve had has been absolutely amazing, so thank you to everyone. We’re here. She’s backing into the Thomson River. What a feat.”