Alexander Arbuthnot (paddle steamer)
Encyclopedia
The Alexander Arbuthnot is the last paddle steamer
built as a working boat on the Murray River
, Australia.
Characteristics:
History:
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
built as a working boat on the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
, Australia.
Characteristics:
- Weight: 46 tons
- Length: 76 feet (22.8 metres)
- Beam: 15 feet 3 inches (4.57 metres)
- Draft: 2 feet 3 inches (0.67 metres)
- Horse power: 10
- Speed: 6 mph, 10 km/h
- Fuel: Red gum logs
History:
- 1923 Built of wood at Koondrook (owners: The Arbuthnot Sawmill at Koondrook). The boat was named after the sawmill's founder.
- The engine was built by Ruston & Hornsby of England and was once used in an earlier boat called the Glimpse.
- The boat was built to work at the sawmill. It towed empty barges to the nearby forest to collect logs; then back to the mill where the logs were cut up into lengths of timber.
- The boat worked at the mill until the 1940s. It was then sold to charcoal producers at Barmah. Eventually it sank.
- Volunteers from Shepparton raised it in 1972 for use at the International Village theme park.
- In 1989 the Alexander Arbuthnot was bought by the Port of Echuca for further restoration.
- Currently the Alexander Arbuthnot carries 47 passengers per trip at the Port of Echuca. The Port of Echuca has the largest fleet of paddle steamers in the world.