Oscar ‘W’ Centenary: Amber Brown takes a spin on this Fleurieu Peninsula region icon in South Australia

There are a few more people milling around the usually quite wharf at Goolwa on this particular weekday morning. There's a real sense of expectation as the diehard volunteers carefully and methodically cajole one of the town's icons, the old paddle steamer, 'Oscar W' into life…

They have to be gentle, after all she's no spring chicken – this year, the Oscar 'W' turns one hundred so I reckon she's entitled to be a little slow getting started.

We're at Goolwa on the Fleurieu Peninsula, the last town on the Murray before the once great waterway trickles out into the South Ocean.

The Oscar 'W' is a reminder of the river trade boom times when Goolwa was the New Orleans on the 'Mississippi of Australia'. As our captain, E.J. Thorp prepares to cast off, the stories of the Oscar 'W's fabulous century are enough to fill a book so that's exactly what local enthusiast, Frank Tuckwell has done.

'Flanders Fields and Paddlewheels' charts how The Oscar 'W' was built by Charlie Wallin in the Victorian riverport of Echuca in 1908 and how he named it after his son, Oscar William who was tragically killed in the war in 917.

Frank Tuckwell: “Young Oscar died on Flanders Field during a battle with the 8th Battalion. He's buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery."

The Oscar 'W' has had a number of lives since, including steaming wool, wheat and supplies up and down the Darling and Murray Rivers, helping build the Goolwa Barrages and even a stint as a maintenance vessel for the river ferries based in Morgan.

The Oscar makes an impressive sight as it races past the William Randell, a locally built paddle wheeler named after the man who started the riverboat trade way back in 1853.

The soothing rhythm of the paddle is something those old captains worked hard to maintain as they raced to get their loads through to the great riverports like Morgan and Goolwa. But of course, those heady days are little more than memories that floating time capsules like the Oscar try to keep alive. But sometime, it's an up hill battle.

E.J. Thorp, Captain: "There's not a lot of water down here at the moment - but there's plenty in the channel - the trick is to stick to the wet bit."

E.J. reckons he has water running through his veins. He spent plenty of time at sea but after a successful career in the Navy the pull of the river was just too strong.

E.J. Thorp, Captain: "The river has so many different moods – sunsets, the bird life, the history of the river, the history of the old paddleboats. It’s great to be part of that history - it's great to be allowed to be part of that history.”

It's below deck that the hard physical yakka happens. This is where the engineer and firemen race to keep the pace of the 100 year old steam driven pistons steady.

Dave Finnie, Engineer: "She's got a ferocious appetite - she'll burn about half a tonne of wood an hour. At the moment, the captain is speeding up so the faster he goes of course, the more wood we burn. The faster he goes the hotter the fire becomes and you need to keep on feed, feed, feed.”

The Oscar 'W' is now in safe hands - owned by the Alexandrina Council and lovingly maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers. Her new century begins on the October Long Weekend and to mark the occasion, the local Steam Exchange Brewery on the Wharf has even produced a special 'Oscar Ale'.

The Oscar 'W' will become a public servant again by giving passengers a taste of life on the water. Celebrations will span all weekend from Saturday the 4th to Monday the 6th.

Come November, Oscar will be running regular tourist cruises on the lower lakes on the third Sunday of each month. Next weekend's festivities coincide with the Goolwa Alive Festival - that means the Steamranger and Cockle Trains will be running and there'll be a street market on Sunday. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Oscar 'W' Centenery
Sat 4 - Mon 6 Oct
Goolwa Wharf

Oscar 'W' Tourist cruises from November

Goolwa Alive Festival
Sunday 5 Oct
Goolwa Wharf precinct

Published 28th September 2008