William Randell and Francis Cadell in 1853 steamboat race up Murray from Goolwa, opening river trade
Francis Cadell's Lady Augusta steamboat became engaged in a race with William Randell's Mary Ann up the River Murray in 1853.
Image by F.H. Adamson, courtesy State Library of South Australia
The second steamboat captain – after William Randell in his Mary Ann – on the River Murray was Francis Cadell, who had spent many years at sea and studied river navigation in the United States. He was determined to win the South Australian government’s £4000 bonus for the first two boat owners to navigate the Murray from its mouth to the Darling junction in iron-clad steamers.
Cadell first sailed down the Murray from Swan Hill in a small boat to check that the river could be navigated by a larger vessel. He commissioned a Sydney shipyard to build an 80-ton 32-metre vessel with two engines each of 20 horsepower. At Goolwa, he built a barge, the Eureka, to carry 100 tons of cargo.
When completed, the Sydney vessel was sailed around to Goolwa at the Murray mouth. Cadell named his vessel the Lady Augusta, after the wife of the South Australian governor, and he invited distinguished guests on the maiden river voyage. These included the governor Henry Fox and his wife, a journalist (James Allen) who provided publicity, and Legislative Council members.
Cadell’s voyage started at Goolwa in August 1853. Not far past the Murrumbidgee junction, Lady Augusta passed William Randell’s smaller steamer the Mary Ann. During the next few days, the steamers travelled neck and neck.
Lady Augusta arrived in Swan Hill 23 days after leaving Goolwa, a few hours ahead of the Mary Ann. The Mary Ann later took the lead, with Gannawarra being Cadell’s end point. Randell went on to Maiden’s Punt (later Moama, on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, opposite Echuca), 1,068 miles from Goolwa.
Neither Mary Ann nor Lady Augusta met the conditions for the government bonus but, while Randell received £300, the full prize went to Cadell.
Cadell formed the River Murray Navigation Company and Randell secured backing for his Murray River Company. They were part of rapid growth of river trade, moving key commodities such as wool.
