Century-old piece of pioneer history passes through Hay Shire

Jun 1

As strange as it may sound, the 100-year-old 100 tonne Pride of the Murray paddlewheeler will pass through Hay Shire this week.

In what is believed to be the largest haulage of a marine vessel this old ever undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere, the Pride of the Murray was removed from the river in Echuca to be taken to its new home in Longreach by road.

More than 40 people, a 26-metre long and 8.7-metre-wide trailer, 700-horsepower prime mover, police escort and nerves of steel were needed to lift the paddlewheeler out of the Murray River and transport it on a mega trailer more than 1700km.

Undertaking the first ever mega marine move in Australia of this scale, with a boat this age is Queensland grazier, lover of outback history, 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,” Mr Kinnon told The Grazier.

“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 1,750 kilometres from Longreach.”

Another hurdle for the Outback Pioneer’s haulage team is that the age and construction of the vessel meant it could only be out of the water for a maximum of seven days, before the timber began to shrink. Timing was crucial.

Warrick Corney of Freightlancer was tasked with co-ordinating the logistics of the move and it’s something that kept him awake at night for the past four months.

“It might sound easy, but it is a massive undertaking,” he said.

“This is not a move that has ever been attempted before in Australia.

“However, the Kinnons have that true pioneering spirit in spades and are so dedicated to history conservation we’re going to make the impossible, possible.

“It is an extremely delicate operation.

“It’s a 100-year-old boat we lifted out of the water to put on top of a trailer before driving it from Victoria to Queensland.

“The route we specifically chose because it’s quite straight and had less obstructions for a mega road train.”

Before the boat was winched from the water, the wheelhouse was removed because of height restrictions and placed on a separate truck to be transported to Longreach.

The remainder of the boat was then winched out of the water and laid across large inflatable bags before being placed on stands with the 26-metre trailer then backed in underneath before the boat was gently lowered down.

“The trailer itself is massive,” Mr Corney said.

“To give you a visual of the size of it, the trailer alone is rated at 192 tonne and the entire rig has 106 tyres under it to soften the pressure on the road.”

“The giant trailer is 8.7 metres wide and some bridges it will travel over are not that wide, it will need to be lifted higher for parts of the journey to ensure it does not hit guard rails.

“It’s big machinery but a delicate operation, so the maximum speed of travel is 80km/hour, it will also be tall, so we negotiated to have crews from each electrical company travel with us along the way to lift up power lines as we come through areas where they are low,” Mr Corney said.

The whole convoy will be supported on its journey by police and pilot vehicles and will only travel during daylight hours, stopping overnight in regional towns along the way.

Mr Corney said because of the age of the wooden boat, it needs to be kept wet during the trip and be back in the water within seven days at the most.

“We have a limited amount of time it can be out of the water, so we are hoping the drive only takes three days,” he said.

“Before it came out of the water, we used old techniques and lined the inside of the hull with wet hessian sacks.”

The most difficult part of the entire trip will in fact be negotiating the last roundabout as they enter Longreach.

Mr Kinnon admits it to be a stressful journey but worth it in the end.

“We are putting a 100-old-year vessel like Noah’s Ark on a truck and bringing it to the outback of Australia,” he said.

“We’re passionate about educating people about Australia’s proud pioneering history and once the paddlewheeler is recommissioned, 100 people a day will get to relive an authentic river experience.”

The vessel will be restored in Longreach over the coming months and it is hoped it will be operational in June.

“The incentive for me and the Kinnon family is millions of tourists will get to enjoy riding the Pride of the Murray on the Thomson River for another 100 years,” Mr Kinnon said.

The route from Deep Creek Marina at Moama is planned to included Murrumbidgee River Road and then along the Mid-Western Highway to Goolgowi enroute through Hillston and onto Queensland.

Rain delayed last Friday’s planned departure.