The Museum of the Echuca Historical Society tells the story of Australia's, paddle boat capital and largest inland port. The home of the P. S. Adelaide, the World's oldest, wooden-hulled, working paddle steamer.
Echuca in Victoria, founded in 1853, by ex-convict Henry Hopwood, from Bolton, in Lancashire, England, became a very important commercial centre. Hopwood, realising that Echuca was an ideal crossing place for the cattle from the north, on their way to the gold fields at Bendigo, set up a punt. The government railway reached Echuca in 1864, connecting it to Melbourne and its port. Wool from the Riverina and Redgum for railway sleepers from the forests along the Murray River were transferred at the Echuca wharf, from the river boats, to the railway and thence to Melbourne. There to be loaded on to ships and taken to America and Europe.
