The one hour Paddlesteamer along the Mighty Murray River departs from the Echuca Wharf.
Once Australia’s largest inland Port at 1.2Km long, it is now home to the world’s largest collection of Paddlesteamers. Both PS Pevensey and PS Alexander Arbuthnot were restored in Echuca by shipwrights at Port of Echuca.
Paddlesteamers ferried people and goods from all through the Murray, Darling and Murrumbidgee River systems, to Echuca – the closest
point to Melbourne on the Murray.
The centre piece is the huge red gum Wharf, where in just one year (1872), more than 240 boats were cleared. with all that hard work going on, it’s no wonder the pubs and breweries which offered refreshments were so popular.
The cruise takes in many points of interest along the way with a commentary pointing out important sites that were part of the burgeoning
paddlesteamer trade and its importance to the development of Echuca as the second busiest port in the Southern Hemisphere. The Paddlesteamers themselves are also floating museums with displays in cabins setting the scene of what life was life in the Port of Echuca's heyday.
