A love letter to Echuca

By MATTHEW MAGUIRE

Echuca is a city situated on the banks of the Murray River and conveniently located close to the Campaspe and Goulburn river junctions.

The city began its life as merely a few mud and bark shacks designed for the drovers and farmers in the surrounding areas to take a load off and unwind after a long day.

The inn was built, owned and operated by an intriguing and industrious ex-convict named Henry Hopwood.

In 1834, Henry was sentenced to 14 years’ transportation to Van Diemen's Land for stealing a few rolls of silk in his home county of Lancashire, England.

During Henry's sentence, he was made a police constable, but he was quickly sentenced to a road gang for living with a woman other than his wife.

He then assisted in the abduction of a woman, extending his sentence for a further two years.

None of this seemed to matter because he was again made a police officer before finally being pardoned in 1846.

Henry moved to a site on the Murray River close to where Echuca would be established and started work in a tallow plant, saving money to begin his highly successful venture.

The inn he built on the banks of the Murray River was a big hit, and after providing river crossings for his patrons in return for a small fee, he expanded the little riverbank inn into a small town.

Henry proposed that a town be established in 1853, and by 1858 the town of Echuca had been officially established and featured a newspaper, The Riverine Herald, a school, bakery and butchery and a few other essential buildings, all owned and operated by Henry.

The name Echuca comes from the Yorta Yorta people's word meaning ‘meeting of the waters’.

The Yorta Yorta people are the traditional owners of the land surrounding the Goulburn and Murray river junction (including the land where Echuca stands today), who were dispossessed of their land by European settlers.

In 1852, Francis Cadell explored the Murray River in a small boat to ensure it was navigable for his new paddle steamer service.

It was at this point that the location of Henry's little town became an extremely valuable area.

Being so close to the Campaspe and the Goulburn river junctions allowed Echuca to be a hub for goods transportation from remote communities connected to the three rivers, which was one of the reasons that in 1864 the town was connected to Melbourne by rail.

The other reason was that it was the closest town on the Murray River to the state capital.

In the late 1860s, the town built a 332-metre-long, three-storey wharf to keep up with the massive amount of wool and other goods being processed through the town and its brand-new rail system.

The wharf's multiple levels allowed it to stay in use throughout the year, as between summer and winter, there was a possible 10-metre variation in the river's height.

From 1870 until the 1890s, Echuca's riverboat industry boomed, with thousands of logs, livestock and wool bales being brought into and exported all over Australia.

At its peak, 200 steamboats would visit the wharf each week.

Unfortunately for the town and its great wharf, the expansion of the road and rail networks saw a devastating decline in the riverboat transport industry, leading to the significant disuse of the wharf as of 1915 and the eventual demolition of part of the wharf in 1934 to provide firewood to Melbourne during World War II.

While the driving force of their economy (the riverboat industry) may have become defunct, the agricultural sector in the area supported the town and its population of around 4000 people.

The now 75.5m wharf was left in a state of disrepair, as it didn't have a purpose.

That was until the 1960s.

In 1954, the railway department that owned the wharf planned to demolish it due to the dangerous state it was in.

The town protested, stating that the wharf had great historical value and was already popular among tourists.

The council agreed with the residents and decided to keep the remaining section of the wharf and restore it and the historic buildings surrounding it, forming the Port Precinct, which in 2007 was added to the National Heritage List.

This brings us to 2022, when I was fortunate enough to visit this historic town.

I drove four hours from the Alpine region of Victoria to arrive in Echuca at about 1pm.

Typically, a drive of this length and lack of stimulating views makes me a little cranky and tired, but seeing the cute little town centre, Hare St, I was filled with excitement. I could see endless photo opportunities and some nifty antique stores that I would have to check out.

I parked my van at NRMA Echuca Holiday Park and walked the 500m into town with my little Pentax film camera.

I didn't know a whole lot about the city before I arrived and was a little unsure of where to visit, but the Port Precinct stood out so much that it was obvious that that was the place to be.

The Port Precinct is much like a historical village but integrated into the town itself.

There's no entry fee like in most historical villages, and all the stores and galleries felt like they served a purpose rather than being a cheap tourist trap.

For example, the ice creamery and candy store were set up in an old ice creamery building; they sold homemade fudges and ice cream, which were delicious.

I had a discussion with the owner, who had a genuine passion for making these homemade goods and didn't appear like she was trying to make a quick buck out of tourists.

I found this with the other store fronts in the precinct, including a winery and an art gallery.

But the main draws of the Port Precinct and Echuca are the paddle steamers.

For $35, you can ride up or down the Murray River in the finest technology from the 19th century.

This is an excellent tour for history buffs and an incredible time for an engineer or anyone interested in mechanics.

The boats are powered with the same or very similar steam engines they had during the heydays of the steamboat industry, and they are entirely open for viewing as you're rolling on the river.

After learning all about boats and a lot about the history of Echuca, I needed lunch.

So, I headed down High St, where you can find cafés, bakeries and restaurants that all serve excellent food, I have heard.

However, I was trying to eat at every Beechworth Bakery I could find, so I had my sixth Ned Kelly pie of the week.

High St is also home to bars and clubs that have live music.

If you stay at the NRMA Holiday Park, there is a list provided of all the weekend activities, so you can choose which band you'd like to see.

For the rest of the afternoon, I walked the streets of Echuca taking photos of the store fronts on Hare St and visiting the antique and book stores strewn across town, trying not to spend the last of my funds on weird, old camera equipment.

Hare St featured a nice mix of modern and historic architecture, which made walking the street a bit of a history lesson.

I also learned, through reading old newspaper headlines during my research, that Hare St has a history of catching fire.

There appeared to be at least one fire in each decade, so hopefully they've sorted that out.

Echuca is one of the larger rural cities in Victoria, but everything you want to see is in the same area, making it super easy to park the car and get out in the sun to explore.

The thing I like most about this city is that it has done an excellent job of keeping that small-town vibe.

Everywhere I went in Echuca, I felt at home.

The city welcomes you with arms wide open and imparts to you the stories of its past.

Matthew Maguire is a photographer based in Loganlea, Queensland.