We have a bit of a fascination with the Murray and Darling Rivers and their history, so entwined with paddle steamers and their role in opening up the inland of the Australian colonies when roads and rail were but a dream. We had really enjoyed spending time at Goolwa and (Renmark last year). So we were delighted to be at the junction of these two once great rivers at Wentworth, and also to see the still bustling town of Mildura. So very good.
We went to Wentworth & Mildura between 20 to 23 April 2019. We were based in Curlwaa.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Coobowie > Ardrossan > Balaklava > Kapunda > 218kms.
History
The Murray is the World’s 16th-longest river at 2,520 kilometres. It is fed by several rivers including the Darling and Murrumbidgee on it’s journey from the Australian Alps before flowing through South Australia to the Southern Ocean. It sits as one of the backbones of the Murray-Darling Basin, draining most of inland Victoria, NSW, and southern Queensland from the western side of the Dividing Range.
The history of the Mildura area is immense, stretching from the 40,000 habitation by First Nations people, to development as a major British colony. To read about this history, click here Mildura History.
Day 1 – Sat 20 Apr – To Kapunda ~ 218kms
We drove north from Coobowie hugging the coast. We enjoyed an occasional glimpse of the ocean and then extensive farmlands.
Approaching Ardrossan we caught a glimpse of large grain silos and a long jetty.
Ardrossan looks a good town with some interesting architecture and a good surf beach under the high cliffs – lots of people paddle boarding.
Balaklava looked an interesting town but we did not stop. Then we were on to Kapunda. So many interesting buildings.
The Kapunda Tourist Park is a good park with hard packed earth sites. There was plenty of space, and reversing in was no problem. The facilities are not so good, all a bit old and tired. We were tucked away in a corner so we could either take a long walk to the original red brick ablutions block where all the campers were, or a walk through the park to the new facilities which always seemed crowded as it was Easter. Still, it was only one night.
That evening we drove into town and had a meal at the pub. Many lovely buildings.
Day 2 – Sun 21 Apr – To Curlwaa ~ 337kns
It was a nice clear day, although very cold overnight. It did not take us long to pack and we were on the road by 8.30. The country around Kapunda is much more interesting as it is on the edge of the Barossa – where we stayed at Nariootpa is only about 30km to the south. So initially there are more hills and lots of grapevines before the land flattened out.
Around Waikerie we crossed the Murray River and after that we are on the same road we took the previous November when we were heading back to Sydney after our epic around.
The land was very flat for a while but then we were once again in grape country. Some grapes were covered in white plastic – maybe the late picked grapes. At one point he drive is flanked by a run of vertical cliffs over the river.
We drove through Renmark bringing back memories of our time there last November, crossing the river near the van park where we had stayed. It’s a very full river this time. To read our Renmark post click here. I have to say, it was a lot easier crossing the narrow bridge with the caravan this time.
We saw the big Dunlop tyre over the road, then we crossed to Victoria, having gotten rid of our fruit on the way (we ate it).
We follow the Sturt Hwy all the way to our turnoff north to Curlwaa about 30km before Mildura. Approaching Curlwaa, we crossed the Murray River into NSW. The bridge is on a traffic signal as only one direction goes at a time – a narrow bridge. The van park is just over the bridge.
As it was Easter Sunday, the campsite at Curlwaa was quite busy, We had a grass site which was great after a string of dirt sites, and it was pretty large in comparison to some recent ones. The facilities were not great, in fact inadequate – there was only one sit-down loo in the mens. We got both Optus (our 4G modem plus my phone) and Telstra (Kerry’s phone).
There was a lovely looking house at the entrance to the park. It was built on a property but a previous owner had it transported to this site. A real old federation style house – with beautiful windows. As the owner said, hope they never break cause it’d be so hard to replace them.
We drove into Wentworth for some shopping, crossing the Darling River in the process. Wentworth looks a really nice town.
Day 3 – Mon 22 Apr – Mildura
It was an overcast day, after being pretty cold overnight. We drove into Mildura which is only about 30km away. Lots of irrigation on the way across, grapes and fruit are the go here.
We crossed the Murray R again and went to the information centre. Nice buildings.
Our first port of call was the waterfront. Just looking at the wonderful old paddle steamers. There was a lovely small boat with a timber deck – loved it. I guess the deck was teak, but it looked more like jarrah.
Then we went to Weir 11 and its lock, which are not far from the main waterfront. After the establishment of the River Murray Commission in 1917, weirs and locks were constructed along the River. Weir & Lock 1 at Blanchetown was the first to be completed in 1922. Others were progressively constructed, with Yarrawonga Weir being the last to be completed in 1939, and the only weir which does not have a lock.
The purpose of the weirs is, firstly, to store water for consumptive use and to regulate river flow downstream. The weir pools provide bodies of water at higher levels than would otherwise be present. This allows water to be diverted for agricultural, domestic and industrial use. They also enable recreation.
The second purpose if to provide a raised river level upstream of the weir to improve the navigability of the river (vessels can navigate through the weir via its lock).
There are 14 weirs along the River Murray — all except Yarrawonga Weir – include a navigation lock. The weirs at Mildura, Torrumbarry and Yarrawonga were constructed primarily for water supply, rather than navigation.
The weir and lock at Mildura (Weir 11) is the only one where the lock and weir are separated, in this case by an island. On all the others, the lock is integrated with the weir. We had seen this at Renmark.
We first came to the lock. What was remarkable were the height markers for all the major floods, on a white pole. The highest was in 1870, which is about 3-Kerrys up the marker pole. It’s is hard to imagine the water being this high – the whole area would have been completely inundated.
We had not been there long when the lock began to empty, reducing the level to that of the river below it. We saw a large houseboat waiting to go up-river. It did not take long at all to empty.
The houseboat entered the lock and then 2 more boats joined it – the lock is really quite large. The second boat in hit the concrete wall of the lock with a terrific bang. We had noticed that the house boats had protective steel rails all the way around the hull – and now we knew why. They need more fenders as well I suspect. The bloke driving the 2nd boat was a lunatic – had no idea how to steer it. He really stuffed it up leaving the loch too – scraping it all along the sides the whole length of the loch. Check this in the video – click here.
At this point the lower lock doors closed and we crossed the island to see the weir. We were surprised to see so much water coming through the weir. To me, the water levels didn’t look all that much different – but obviously they were.
We got back to the lock as the up-river gates were opening to let the boats out. Boat #2 made it out but with quite a few glancing blows to the concrete wall. More than glancing blows, then he took off like a greyhound after a rabbit – thought he was going to run into Boat No 1.
Further along from the Lock is the Mildura Station Homestead. This is a re-creation of the original Mildura Station built by the Jamison brothers in around 1850. It would have been nice to look around the inside of the house. Peeking through the windows just isn’t the same…. don’t get the same feel of the place.
There were many out-buildings including the massive shearing shed.
Back towards town we went to Rio Vista – which is now managed via the art gallery. This magnificent home was build by WB Chaffey in 1892. However he went broke in 1895 and the house fell into disrepair, after he failed to find a buyer for it. He later moved back into the house with his second wife who lived in it until her death in the 1850s. The house was them bought by the Mildura City Council and restored.
The insides have mostly been fully restored to the 1800s style – the dining room is especially good, with its lovely panelled ceilings. The dining room has the original furniture. The restoration has gone to a lot of trouble here – wallpapers match the originals and the beautiful cedar panelling is amazing.
The stained glass windows are also stunning.
Nearby Rio Vista was a smaller but beautiful home. Not sure of the origins of this house, but love it… very nice vibe.
We drove over to Merbein, about 5km west of Mildura, to International Drive. Here we walked along the white cliffs – which were so high up, but more yellow than white. We went through the Pioneer Plantation with small plaques recognising the early settlers and war victims. We went passed the distillery/winery set up by WB Chaffey in 1913.
We also saw the scarred tree made by First Nations people, first discovered in 1973 during de-snagging. The 5m scar was caused by bark removal for the Aboriginal people to make a canoe. This occurred at least 280 years ago.
There was an information panel on the 1956 flood, the highest since the irrigation district was set up in 1909. The flood took 7 months to move down the Murray and Darling rivers and peaked at Merbein in August. The whole country on the other side of the river to the cliffs would have been completely under water for miles.
Day 4 – Tue 23 Apr – Wentworth
After a very cold night, it was a bleak looking morning. Rain looked inevitable. But we were going to Wentworth to see as much as we could. Our first stop was Fotherby Park at the junction of Tuckers Ck and the Darling River. We had good views of what looked a very full Darling River. There was also a disturbing warning sign.
Also there was McClymont House – a Murray pine “drop log construction” built as Wentworth’s first court in 1863. The present court replaced it in 1879.
The restored paddle steamer The Ruby rests in an indentation in the river bank. There is no access to the boat. Don’t think they’ve quite finished the renovation yet.
Next door is The Demon, an 8 HP steam engine brought to clear land. It was later bought in 1900 and pumped water for 30 years.
We also saw that the road bridge was open.
We crossed the Darling R and went to the tourist information office. We also saw some of the wonderful old buildings Wentworth is famous for. The second photo is of the St Ignatius early convent school for girls, founded in 1892, built in 1911, closed I’n 1950 and restored in 1989. Lovely building.
At the tourist information office, we learned that the water in the Darling is actually Murray River water backed up into the dry Darling River. What a tragedy this is.
As we got to The Junctions (where the two rivers meet) the rain started. Not heavy to start with. It is good to be at the Junction even though we know the water is all Murray R water. The photo of the poster shows the more typical situation with the milky coloured Darling on the left. Its like being back in Phnom Penh again, seeing the Mekong backing up the Tonle Sap towards Angkor Watt.
There is a tower in the park and I climbed that trying to get up the stairs and keep the camera dry under my jacket.
A little paddle steamer came into the pool – quite cute.
We moved on to look at Lock 10 as the rain steadily increased. The Lock was closed and staying closed that day.
We went to see the old Gaol to escape the rain. We started in the Gaoler’s cottage which had been turned into a general museum. I kept hearing Kerry say “My Mum used to have one of those”.
As expected the gaol is a bleak place. The gateway sets the scene – a formidable structure doubtless designed to spur the fear of god into the prisoners.
The open area contained all the things you would expect – a set of stocks, a whipping post, various means of controlling prisoners.
I did like one sign. Sounds like the philosophy of the nuns who used to teach me.
The male cell block made up the bulk of the prison – 10 cells with 2 of them much larger – these were for the drunks. Up to 18 men were held in these cells while they slept it off.
Prisoners were held 1, 3 or more in a cell – never 2. This was to make it easier to sort out the truth in the event of any shenanigans.
To one side is the woman block, secured behind a timber fence to prevent intermingling with the males. There are only 2 cells which proved a mistake. The cells were often over-crowded – in one month in 1898 14 women were crammed into the 2 small cells, 7 of who were from the Salvation Army. Their crime was to congregate on a corner and sing to the Lord. Other religions did not like this and they were arrested and could spend up to 7 days in detention. The men could get 14 days.
The rain got worse and we headed back to Mobi to while away the afternoon.
To see photos from this post, click here
To see video from this post, click here