Alexander Arbuthnot (paddle steamer)
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For other vessels of the same name, see Arbuthnot (ships).
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The Alexander Arbuthnot is the last paddle steamer built as a working boat on the Murray River, 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.
References
The PS Arbuthnot was burnt at Kyalite on the Wakool River, not at the Murrumbidgee Junction
