Paddle-steamer first launched 120 years ago returns to working life
After being raised from the bottom of the river, dug out of the mud, and lovingly restored, the PS Cannally is ready to take passengers up and down the River Murray.
The PS Canally has been recommissioned as a commercial vessel. (ABC Riverland: Shannon Pearce)
The PS Canally paddle-steamer has hosted its first public cruises at the Living River Festival in Morgan.
The boat was built in 1907 and moored in Victoria in the 1950s, where it sank due to inattention.
A group of volunteers raised the boat in 1998, and it took 15 years, 4,500 volunteer hours and $1.5 million to restore it.
Three years on from its first voyage in more than 80 years, the PS Canally is back carrying passengers on the River Murray.
It was officially recommissioned at a ceremony at the Living River Festival in Morgan at the weekend, where it ran its inaugural public cruises.
Originally built in 1907, the historic paddle-steamer has been lovingly brought back to life by volunteers.
After years of working as a barge, ferrying produce and assisting with the construction of locks and weirs, the vessel was moored at Boundary Bend in Victoria in the 1950s.
A photograph of the raising of the PS Canally in 1998. (ABC Riverland: Shannon Pearce)
It did not see the surface again until 1998, when a group of volunteers raised the boat.
Tony Lyons was in the riverboat society that lifted the Canally out of the water.
"There was a bit of a battle because there were four portholes we didn't know, so we got it so far up, put the pumps in and of course, we just couldn't stop the water," he said.
"There was a lot of mud and stuff inside, a lot of dirty work.
"We got her up and got a big tarp from the silos and put that under it."
Tony Lyons spent weeks pulling PS Canally's hull out of the river in the 90s. (ABC Riverland: Shannon Pearce)
Since then, the PS Canally has found its way back to Morgan in South Australia, where the Mid Murray Council took ownership of it in 2010.
Mr Lyons said it was exciting to see the boat back in working order after receiving so much care from volunteers in South Australia.
"Because of the six weeks I had in the river bank there and watching it slowly grow and slowly grow and go through different stages, it's just been wonderful," he said.
The council has invested $1.5 million into its restoration, which was led by another group of volunteers.
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Mid Murray councillor Kevin Myers was part of that volunteer group and is now crewing the boat as it starts its next chapter.
"In the beginning, a lot of us thought, 'Oh, this is going to be a great thing'. Halfway through, we were sort of running out of puff, but we could see the light at the end of the
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