Alexander Arbuthnot (paddle steamer)
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The Alexander Arbuthnot is the last paddle steamer built as a working boat on the Murray River, Australia.
Not to be confused with the steam-ship Arbuthnot, a vessel of 41 tons which was burnt at Murrumbidgee junction, Murray River, 1913 (LH).
Facts:
- 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 he who founded the Sawmill.
- 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. Its job was to tow barges carrying logs from the nearby forests to the mill. It towed empty barges to the forest to collect logs. The barges were then towed home to the mill so that the logs could be 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.
