Description

The Paddle Steamer Enterprise

While this is a book about one particular vessel, the Paddle Steamer Enterprise was typical of so many of the small trading boats along our inland river systems. It is the fact that she has survived for so long and was able to adapt to the surrounding needs and the every changing demands of the rivertrade that now makes her story worth telling.

The Enterprise has links with every town along the rivers from Corowa on the upper Murray to Goolwa at the mouth of the river, on the Murrumbidgee up as far as Hay and on the Darling to Wilcannia. She was a regular visitor a;ong the lengths of these rivers. The trade along these  rivers traversed three separate colonies, whose capital cities far away had the desire to draw the trade that the rivers had captured towards their capitals to the economic benefit that would ensue. It is little wonder that the moves towards the federation of these colonies was strong along the rivers, where colonial custom duties were the bane not only of the river traders but also the residents of the towns that were rapidly developing along the riverbanks.

When searching for a key object to illustrate the many stories that the National Museum of Australia wished to tell, the Enterprise, as one of the oldest steam powered vessels afloat provided an ideal connection with so many of these stories. The Enterprise, now maintained by the National Museum and crewed by volunteers, is regularly in steam in Canberra on Lake Burley Griffin.

Navarine Publishing.