FLEURIEU HERITAGE EXPERIENCE - 3 modes of Transport

On Sunday 7th May 2017 we (Drew, Colleen Dean and myself) purchased our tickets to travel on the Cockle Train from Victor Harbour to Goolwa Wharf, from there we have time for morning tea then  onto the PS Oscar W for a one hour cruise.  We then have 75 mins for lunch.
We then board the Cockle Train back and then board the Horse Drawn Tram to Granite Island and back. It is only one of two places on earth that you can ride on a steam train, steam boat and horse drawn vehicle.  The other is Lucerne in Switzerland.
                                                                                 

The Cockle Train is a transportation service in Australia that travels along the oldest steel railway which was constructed back in 1887. The railwaytrack from Goolwa to Port Elliot was the first public railway in Australia which was laid in 1854, after 10 years the steel tracks was extended to Victor Harbor.

The paddle steamer Oscar W was built in 1908 by Franz OAt the time Oscar W was built, Wallin already owned the steamers Australien and Julia and the barges Adam, Federal and Impulse, he later went on to own a number of other vessels.

In 1914 Wallin sold the Oscar W to Permewan Wright and Company and until 1919 it was engaged in the wool trade, continuing to operate on the upper river system. Amalgamation of several companies kept the Oscar W in the wool trade on the Darling River, but also as a supply vessel for the construction of the lock system. By 1943 the Oscar W was in the hands of the South Australian Highways Department and being used for ferry maintenance work. Her boiler was changed in 1945 to oil burning. Sold again in 1959 the paddle-steamer was employed by her new owners in the tourist trade.

  

 Finally in 2001 the Alexandrina Council took over the ownership of the Oscar W and the barge Dart and they were used in historical and community celebrations on the lower river and lakes. The vessel's centenary was celebrated in October 2008.

In 1914 Wallin sold the Oscar W to Permewan Wright and Company and until 1919 it was engaged in the wool trade, continuing to operate on the upper river system. Amalgamation of several companies kept the Oscar W in the wool trade on the Darling River, but also as a supply vessel for the construction of the lock system.

 By 1943 the Oscar W was in the hands of the South Australian Highways Department and being used for ferry maintenance work. Her boiler was changed in 1945 to oil burning. Sold again in 1959 the paddle-steamer was employed by her new owners in the tourist trade.

 A conversion back to wood burning, Oscar W was sold to the South Australian Tourism Department in 1985 and extensive repair work was carried out: the paddle-steamer's new life would be as the flagship for the Murray Interpretive Centre at Goolwa.The paddle-steamer Oscar W with its barge Ada still holds the record for the largest cargo of wool bales brought down the Darling River: 2, 208 bales.

VICTOR HARBOR HORSE DRAWN TRAM The Victor Harbor Horse Drawn Tram was originally established in 1854 to link the Murray Darling pastoral riches coming into the river port of Goolwa, the salt-water port of Port Elliot and to the international markets. When Port Elliot failed to provide safe anchorage, the railway was extended to Port Victor and by wooden causeway, across to the sheltered anchorage off Granite Island.

 

 `The causeway, breakwater and cutting at Granite Island were part of an ongoing programme to establish Victor Harbor as the sea port for River Murray trade.   A jetty 640' long was built in 1864, concurrently with the building of the rail extension from Port Elliot. 

 Work carried out on the jetty included the provision of a shed capable of holding 8 loaded trucks awaiting shipment at the end of Victoria Pier, as the jetty was named. A description of Victoria Pier at the time of opening is as follows: It is entirely constructed of colonial Gum. The erection of the pier took nearly 2 years and cost about £8,800. The railway continues up to the end of the jetty where cranes are to be placed for loading and unloading cargo. Victor Harbor developed rapidly over the next 5 years as a town and port. Soon it became obvious that shipping arrangements needed