For nearly six months, the Pride of the Murray has been sitting on the bottom of a river in outback Queensland, hidden beneath its muddy brown waters.
Key points:
- Salvage works begin to raise the Pride of the Murray in Longreach
- An exclusion zone has been set up on the Thomson River to keep salvors and boaties safe
- Fundraising has begun to help restore the paddle wheeler for tourism experiences
It's an ignominious resting place for the 99-year-old wooden paddle wheeler, which attracted national headlines when it was trucked nearly 1,750 kilometres from country Victoria to Longreach in May 2022.
This week, an expected five-day operation will begin to salvage the 24-metre, 100-tonne vessel from where it has rested since March 6.
The paddle wheeler sunk at its mooring just weeks out from the start of peak tourist season.
Pride of the Murray owner and Longreach-based tourism operation Outback Pioneers estimate it will cost more than $1.5 million to preserve and restore the iconic attraction.
Colourful history of Pride of the Murray
Built in 1924 as a barge to tow other boats and later converted into a vessel to transport timber on the Murray River in Echuca, the paddle wheeler has had a colourful history.
This is not the first time the boat has sat at the bottom of a waterway after being intentionally sunk in the Murray River at the end of its working life in the 1960s.
In 1973, the C24 barge was purchased for $100 from its underwater grave by Captain Maxwell Carrington.
After removing 250 tonnes of silt, she was refloated, repaired and relaunched four years later as the Pride of the Murray to be used as a diesel-electric passenger vessel, becoming an iconic tourist attraction.
Last year, Pride of the Murray was purchased by Outback Pioneers, a Longreach-based tourism operation, and transported overland from Victoria, through outback New South Wales to her new home on the Thomson River.
After the epic journey, the Pride of the Murray was a popular tourist attraction for the remaining few months of the outback tourist season.
Thomson River exclusion zone
As fundraising efforts begin to help raise money to restore the boat, owner Richard Kinnon said he wanted to conserve the piece of Australian history.
"The Pride of the Murray means so much to me after all we've done to bring her to Longreach, and we have a duty to preserve her if it is humanly possible," he said.
Maritime Safety Queensland will create an exclusion zone around the salvage site from September 4 to 10 to allow public boating traffic to move around the works safely.
General manager Kell Dillon said he was sure that residents and boaties would be delighted to see the boat raised from the bottom of the river.
"This will return the river to its natural state and remove a potential safety hazard for other vessels," Mr Dillon said.
"It's important that while work progresses, the boating public keeps well clear of the salvors and their equipment in the interest of everyone's safety.
"I encourage all local boaties to make themselves familiar with the gazetted exclusion zone."
Keeping tourism afloat
Longreach Regional Council Mayor Tony Rayner said the paddle wheeler could not remain at the bottom of the Thomson River.
"We're very pleased that a salvage crew has been appointed to refloat the Pride of the Murray as such," Cr Rayner said.
"That will then give them the opportunity to do their assessments as to what they'll do with it once they get it out of the river."