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| The numerous
private moorings at Goolwa
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Goolwa (including Hindmarsh Island)
Attractive and unusual town which was once
the main entry port on the Murray River.
Located only 83 km from Adelaide, Goolwa (it is
said that 'goolwa' is a Ngarrindjeri word
meaning 'elbow') is an historic port which is
now an upmarket holiday resort for Adelaide
people. It is only an hour's drive from
Adelaide. The town has been given a very
self-consciously Heritage feel by painting local
buildings, like the Goolwa Hotel, in heritage
colours and getting some feeling of harmony in
the main street. Genuinely old hotels like the
Corio Hotel have been refurbished and
revitalised so they look excellent. Along with
this 'gentrification' of what was once the main
seaside (although it was inland) port on the
Murray River has come an overpowering local
desire to 'develop' the area which has brought
Goolwa, and its battle with the local
Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal people over Hindmarsh
Island, to the attention of all Australians.
The area of South Australia which now
stretches from Lake Alexandrina and the mouth of
the Murray River around through Goolwa to Port
Elliot developed as a unified whole. By 1829
Captain Charles Sturt had made his historic
journey down the Murray River and there was a
feeling that a settlement should be established
near the mouth of the river so that the inland
could be opened up.
In 1837 Colonel William Light, responding to
this interest, inspected the area around the
mouth of the Murray and concluded that the land
was poor and the mouth of the river was probably
not navigable. The following year Sturt endorsed
Light's view that the mouth of the Murray could
not be made safe for navigation. This led to the
establishment of Adelaide on Gulf St Vincent but
there was still a body of support for the
utilisation of the Murray River and a number of
proposals (most involving safer harbours and
moving goods overland to points further up the
river) were suggested.
Eventually a decision was made that Goolwa
would become the last point for shipping on the
Murray River (it was located on the last bend
before the river entered the sea) and there was
a debate as to whether
Victor Harbour or
Port Elliot would be the ocean port. It was
eventually decided that Port Elliot was the best
location but this was probably based on its
proximity to Goolwa and the belief that a canal
could be constructed between the two locations.
In 1851 it was agreed to build a railway between
Port Elliot and Goolwa at a cost of £20,000. It
ended up costing £31,000 and wasn't completed
until 1854. It was, by any conventional measure,
a bit of a disaster. It rarely made a profit and
the trains carrying the goods travelled at about
10 km/h and had to be unloaded before the goods
could be moved to the ships because the waters
at Port Elliot were too shallow and the jetty
was not long enough. After a decade in which no
fewer than seven ships were wrecked off the
coast, the port was moved to Victor Harbor.
By 1853 paddle steamers were operating on the
Murray. The first two steamers were the 'Mary
Ann' captained by William Randell and the 'Lady
Augusta' captained by Francis Cadell. Both left
from Goolwa and travelled up river as far as
Swan Hill.
The town of Goolwa had been surveyed as early
as 1840 but it was resurveyed in 1853 and blocks
were sold for around £20. That same year a road
was constructed between Goolwa and Port Elliot
and by 1860 there was a road over the hills to
Adelaide. In 1857 it was officially proclaimed a
port (the first inland port in Australia) and,
with the construction of wharves and stores, it
grew quickly servicing the vast inland of
western New South Wales and Queensland. At its
peak in the 1880s about 25 000 bales of wool per
year were passing through the port. A decade
later, because the railway had taken away most
of the business which had previously operated on
the river, Goolwa's importance as a port had all
but disappeared.
The Goolwa Barrage was completed in 1940 at a
cost of £700,000.
Things to see:
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Signal Point Centre
A good place to start any exploration of Goolwa
is Signal Point, a handsome modern building
located at the Wharf near the ferry across to
Hindmarsh Island. The Centre was completed in
1988, opened by Prince Charles, and is devoted
to the Murray River in all its glory and
complexity. There is an extensive photographic
display, a history of human relationships with
the river, lots of information on the old river
boats which used to ply the river, and it offers
an excellent explanation of how Goolwa fits into
the history of the Murray. It is open seven days
a week from 10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. For more
details contact (08) 8555 3488.
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| The Goolwa
and Port Elliot Council Chambers
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Historic Buildings
In 1987 the inner section of Goolwa was declared
a State Heritage Area because of its importance
as a river port from the 1850s to the 1880s.
There is a brochure available which lists all
the major buildings in this area. They include
the Council Chambers in Cadell Street which
incorporate the original Town Hall (1860) and
which were modernised in 1878 and 1907; the
Goolwa Hotel in Cadell Street which dates from
1853 and has the figurehead from the Mozambique
out the front; the bow-fronted shop over the
road from the hotel which dates from the 1850s;
the attractive Soldiers Memorial Gardens in the
middle of the town centre which were completed
in 1917 and built on the site where the horse
tramway used to go; the Post Office (built in
1857 and used by tramway passengers until 1872)
in Goolwa Terrace opposite the Gardens; the Old
Police Station and Court House in Goolwa Terrace
which was built between 1859-74; the former
railway horse stables behind the Post Office
where the horses which pulled the train from
Goolwa to Port Elliot were stabled (built 1862);
the railway cutting behind the post office which
dates from 1852; the Corio and former
Australasian Hotels on the corner opposite the
post office (both these buildings date from 1857
when the town was at its height - the
Australasian closed in 1934 and was used as an
office for the building of the Goolwa barrage
until 1940) and, closer to the river, the
Customs House (1859) which was built when Goolwa
was proclaimed a port. At the back of this
important collection of buildings is the Railway
Superintendants House, known as the Round House,
which dates from 1852 and is the oldest house in
the town.
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| The Goolwa
Print Room and Gallery which is attached
to the Goolwa Museum
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National Trust Museum
Located in an old Blacksmiths shop which was
built around 1872, the town's National Trust
Museum has an excellent collection of items
which give the visitor an insight into the
history of the Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island. It
is located on Porter Street. For details of
opening times contact (08) 8555 2221.
The Cockle Train
The steam train, a reminder of the origins of
the town and the whole region, only runs during
the school holidays but it runs three times a
day from Goolwa to Victor Harbor stopping at
Port Elliot. Details: (08) 8555 2691.
The Barrages
On the way out to the Barrages there is a
special Bird Watching Hide where people can sit
and observe the local birds. The Goolwa Barrage
is open to visitors from 8.00 a.m. - 5.30 p.m.
and it simply a question of walking through some
rather pleasant and well tended gardens to reach
the barrage where the sea water is separated
from the fresh water of Lake Alexandrina.
Hindmarsh Island
In recent times Hindmarsh Island has been the
subject of on-going problems between developers
and the local Ngarrindjeri Aborigines. In
essence there has been an attempt to build a
bridge from Goolwa across to the island (like
most local developments there is an inability to
realise that there is something quite delightful
about the ferry crossing) which has been the
subject of numerous court appeals by the
Ngarrindjeri who have argued that the bridge
will materially damage a number of sacred sites.
Given the appalling way the early settlers in
the area treated the Ngarrindjeri (for more
details read 'Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri' by
Graham Jenkin) this ongoing insensitivity to
their needs and requests is fairly typical of
attitudes which have existed in the area for
over a century. At the moment the ferry trip to
the island is free.
Cruises
There are a number of cruise options (up the
Murray, along the Coorong, across to Hindmarsh
Island) which are available from Goolwa. For
more information contact Goolwa Cruises (08)
8555 2203 or Coorong Experience (08) 8555 1133
