Mount Mary Hotel: Lisa checks out a pub with beer but no town in the Riverland region of South Australia
Despite the bad press the River Murray has been getting lately it still has oodles to offer. Contrary to some reports, it's not running dry. While it could do with more water, the locks and weirs are still holding it at what's called 'pool level'.
That means lots of the backwaters are still there, waiting to be explored. It also means there's plenty of water for lazy houseboat holidays - one of the best ways of experiencing the river. If you want someone else to do the work, a tour boat fits the bill. They're still cruising and reminding us of the river glory days when hundreds of paddlesteamers plied up and down the river ferrying wheat and wool to and fro between the riverports.
And one of the busiest was the Port of Morgan a couple of hour's drive from Adelaide. It's where the Murray makes its big left turn and heads south towards the southern ocean. The mighty red gum wharf is a Morgan landmark. In its heyday it was twice as long and paddlesteamers and their barges still had to line up for kilometres waiting for a berth…
The boom-times began in 1878 when the railway opened and six trains a day operated between here and Adelaide. The railway helped open up the country and lots of camps and settlements appeared along the track carved out of the saltbush.
Welcome to Mount Mary or Krichauff, as it was originally named. It's your classic Aussie pub with no town - literally.
Just 22 kilometres up the line from Morgan, Mount Mary might have been small but it had some very big plans! The land was subdivided, housing blocks pegged out and the streets given grand names - but it all came to nought. All that's left is the pub, an empty shop next door and a couple of houses.
Meet the permanent residents of Mount Mary - all three of them - Swannie, Annie and Jack the Red Healer. They bought the pub two years ago after looking for the proverbial 'sea change'.
Adrian "Swannie" Stanley: "I was born on the river and I love the bush. I spent most of my childhood younger days rabbit trapping and hunting so I love living in the bush, I love the smell of the bush after it rains. We were looking for that sea change but it was a bush change for us. It's a lovely quiet spot out here and basically in a town that most of the week there's only two of us."
They see themselves as custodians of a very important patch of Riverland history which dates back to 1894.
Annie Dennis: "We love it because it's so close to everything - I mean we're only three quarters of an hour from the Barossa and two hours from town I suppose and for us it's like the 'inner outback'. You get past Sutherlands and here it's desert country, go down to Eudunda and it's cropping land so it's quite a contrast between the two and it's really interesting."
Swannie: "And we're only 10 minutes from the Port of Morgan on the river so it changes so quickly - you'd believe you were in the middle of Australia looking at the view we've got from the hotel."
Of course, it hasn't always been this quiet. At its peak there were as many as two hundred people living and working here.
Swannie: "I've had train drivers who have come here for a beer just to see if the old pub's still open. And they speak of not being able to get in the front door for men covered in black charcoal from working out in the charcoal pits. People lined up at the weighbridge waiting to weigh there timber and their wool - it was a very very hustly, bustly little place, saw-benches running all day out the front…"
The last train pulled out in 1969 but the grand plans for Mount Mary had slipped into oblivion decades earlier. The town that changed its name from Krichauff during the war years is now a popular local watering hole brimming with great country yarns. Like the grandmother who had her tonsils out in the front room now used for 8-ball or the day the wind was so strong it blew over the underground water tank!
While you sample the brilliant range of local produce at the bar - including Annie's own Dukka she's in the kitchen presiding over her not so typical pub menu - no schitznels and chips here…
Come mealtime you're likely to have Annie or Swannie join you at the table - it's that kind of place. And afterwards you can share in the country yarns around the fire pit in the beer garden outside. A great way to end the day.
Mount Mary Hotel as rooms available or you can bring your own van or swag and spend the night out the back. You'll find it on the Eudunda-Morgan Road, 22 kilometres west of Morgan. It's open seven days a week. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Mount Mary Hotel
1 North Terrace
Mount Mary
Ph 8581 0581Published 5th October 2008
