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December 13th 2013

Published: December 18th 2013

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billandJackie

Swan Hill

Swan Hill on the border with NSW and the mighty Murray river flows right through it,which provides for some very relaxing walking along it's banks.Swan hill takes it's name from Major Thomas Mitchell who camped here in 1836 on an expedition from Sydney to inland Australia.He was kept awake by the sounds of water birds and in particular Black swans.The next day he wrote in his diary " I therefore name this isolated and remarkable feature Swan Hill.Although we did walk the river bank we did not see any black swans.The river Murray is famous for it's Murray cod a much sought after fish.In the past there have been fish caught up to 160lb but these catches are rare these days.In town there is a large fiberglass and concrete movie prop of a Giant Murray Cod

The city and the river have a fascinating history with stories of paddle steamers and trade between city's on the coast, at one time over 100 steamers plied this river and the local bridge that spans the river between VIC and NSW even has a central section that can be raised to allow the steamers to pass underneath.There is an attraction on the river

Swan Hill River

named the Pioneer Settlement which is a collection of buildings set out as a river side town of a bygone time 1830-1930.Moored alongside is the famous riverboat Gem and a bollard representing Captain Hugh King along his favorite boat.There are numerous of these painted bollards along the banks of the Murray which were commissioned in in 2003 to commemorate the 150yrs of paddle boats on the Murray.There was also a flotilla of boats including replicas of the first two which retraced the journey from Goola (SA) to Swan Hill to mark the occasion. It was not always work on the river in 1853 the first paddle steamer race was run with the race being a dead heat between Captains Randell and Cadell their painted Bollards stand at the site of the finish line.

About 20ks outside of Swan Hill is an exhibition dedicated to the Catalina flying boat which during WW11 was repaired and serviced at a secret base on Lake Boga to avoid them being bombed and destroyed.The decision to base this facility at Lake Boga was taken following the bombing of Broome at which time many Catalina flying boats were destroyed.416 aircraft were serviced and repaired during

Swan Hill

The mighty Murray river which flows through Swan Hill

the stations active service and was home to a variety of service men and women from allied forces.The exhibition features the famous Catalina Flying Boat A24-30 one of only four in Australia.The under ground communications center has been lovingly restored to give the public an insight into conditions that prevailed at the time.

All in all Swan Hill is a relaxing place steeped in history and very welcoming to the tourist, we stayed at Swan Hill tourist park just on the outskirts of town which also happened to be a caravan repair center.We had some warranty work needing to be done on our new van and it was taken care of with no fuss and no cost to us.We left Swan Hill and headed for a free camp on the river only 30ks away but decided to keep going,more to follow.

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