Setting off at dawn October 3, the Paddle Steamer Melbourne chuffed away from Mildura’s wharf; her wooden hull slicing through the Murray River’s sluggish flow. It had been over a century since her birth in Koondrook, and now, under the stewardship of owner Adam Auditori, she is steaming for Echuca. Adam, a shipwright with riverboats on his mind since age 12, had bought the old girl a year and a half earlier. She’d sat idle for four and a half years, but after six months of sweat and elbow grease alongside a young skipper, she was back in survey – delighting passengers at Mildura. A slow upstream crawl against a stubbornly low river.
“We’ve had a pretty good time,” Adam reflected in an interview, his voice carrying the weariness of nine days on the water. “It’s been tiring, but good.”
At the helm was the youngest captain on the Murray, 24-year-old Angus McCullough, who started crewing at 15 on this very boat in Mildura and made captain at 17.
“He’s done a great job getting us this far,” Adam praised.
Challenges abounded. The river’s shallows forced creative navigation—winching cables around trees to nudge the steamer over mud banks, inch by inch.
“We’re not pulling her out a foot,” Adam explained, “Just a few inches, because it’s all touch and go.”
How far they make it on their journey is still an unknown.
They burn a cubic metre of redgum wood daily, sourced from the New South Wales banks to keep her light. Communication was another hurdle; everyone wanted updates.
“We aim for Swan Hill tomorrow,” Adam said, “but if we get there, we’ll push for Barham. Anything after is a bonus.”
Highlights dotted the voyage like a detour up the Wakool River, pushing 10 kilometres in four-and-a-half feet of water – barely above the Melbourne’s three-foot-nine draft – until a log nudged them back at 9:30 p.m.
In Tooleybuc, they hosted successful public cruises, honouring the boat’s 1924 role in building the local bridge as a public works vessel with a pile-driving rig fitted.
Built in 1912 at Koondrook, launched in July 1913, and trialled to Echuca that December, the Melbourne had cleared snags, built locks, and ferried ministers in her early days. Sold to Evans Brothers in Echuca for picnics and excursions until 1942, she survived mooring and decay through meticulous upkeep.
In 1965, Captain Alby Pointon transformed her into a 300-passenger tour boat in Mildura, running daily until Covid halted her in 2020.
Now, as they awaited a bridge lift – council’s RDO delaying them – Adam eyed Barham for Friday, where 220 Vintage Car Club members awaited lunch aboard.
“Fingers crossed,” he said, “She’s got a real connection there,” Adam mused.
If stuck, better there than anywhere. Public cruises planned for a weekend, water permitting, would celebrate her return.
The Melbourne’s paddles churned onward, a living relic bridging past and future. By Christmas, Adam hopes to reach Echuca, but Koondrook still calls to the steamer that had shaped the Murray’s story.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 16 October 2025.
