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Race to open the River Murray to steam navigation
In August 1850 the South Australian government established a reward,
of £2000 each, for the first two paddle-steamers to travel up the
River Murray to its junction with the Darling. The conditions of the
prize were that the vessels were to be built at a location on the river
or Lake Alexandrina, were to be made of steel, were driven by at least
40 horsepower engines and were submerged less than 2 feet into the water
when loaded. No one accepted the challenge.
William Randell constructed the first paddle-steamer to be launched on the River Murray. Randell owned a flourmill at Gumeracha and he wanted to be able to transport his flour to settlers along the river and to the Victorian goldfields. Randell’s steamer, named the Mary Ann after his mother, was launched on the river from a landing near Mannum. It was first trialled on 19 February 1853. On 25 March 1853, the Mary Ann set off on her first voyage up the Murray, but had to turn back due to low river. Randell began his second attempt on 15 August 1853 and made his journey at a fairly leisurely pace.
Francis Cadell decided to establish wool transportation business along the river. He had a steamer built in Sydney and transported to Goolwa. Cadell’s steamer was named the Lady Augusta after the wife of Sir Henry Fox Young, the governor of South Australia. The Lady Augusta set out from Goolwa on 25 August 1853.
On 14 September just upstream of the Murray’s junction with the Murrumbidgee river, the crew of the Mary Ann had moored and set up camp for the night when the Lady Augusta came steaming past them. The Mary Ann and the Lady Augusta then ‘raced’ each other up the river to Swan Reach and back down again. Ultimately, Cadell’s launch was the first to complete the journey although only by a small margin. He was praised as the winner, received £4000 and a medal especially made for the occasion by the South Australian government. Randell received a consolation prize from the government and through public subscription.
The River Murray had been proved navigable and the great era of the paddle-steamer trade on the river began.
Further reading
Kinloch, Arthur. The Murray River: being a journal of the voyage of the "Lady Augusta" steamer from the Goolwa, in South Australia, to Gannewarra, above Swan Hill, Victoria; a distance from the sea mouth of 1400 miles, Adelaide: W.C. Cox, Printer, 1853.
Kinmont, Mabel. Family portrait of William Richard Randell: first steam-navigator of the River Murray and its tributaries, [Adelaide: The Advertiser, 1951].
Linn, Rob. The river flows: a history of Mannum on the River Murray,Blackwood, SA: Historical Consultants for Mid Murray Council, 1997.
Tucker, Frank. The Murray river’s paddle steamers and bullockies, Melbourne: AE Press, 1985.
Links
Powerhouse Museum: Race against time: Murray River Navigation medal
 Captain Francis Cadell, ca1870 |
 Portrait of Captain WR Randell, ca1880 |
 “Lady Augusta”, Swan Hill, 1853 |
 River steamers on the Murray, 1853 |