Source To Sea - The Story of the Murray Riverboats (2001)

*Director's Cut - additional steam sequences of the PS Oscar W, PS William Randell and Akuna Amphibious plus archival footage.*

This is a story about passion and love - passion for old paddleboats and live of a river.

The Centenary of Federation's Source to Sea event took more than three years to plan and three months to complete. It's one of the most memorable journeys ever undertaken down Australia's greatest river - the Murray - from its source in the Kosciusko high country to the sea at the Murray mouth town of Goolwa.

Australia has more original paddleboats than anywhere else in the world. Never before has such a flotilla been assembled on the Murray River. At times the fleet includes more than 200 heritage and leisure craft, paddlesteamers and riverboats - some more than 100 years old.

This television documentary includes private family archival footage and historic photographs of the river trade and celebrates the unique story of the Murray riverboats.

It tells of their history and restoration and includes the story of steam, the hard work, the humour and the romance of the river trade in the late 1800s when several hundred paddleboats and barges opened up much of inland Australia along the Murray, Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers.

Produced by Ian Doyle and Paul Williams.

Made with the assistance of Peter and Jan Teakle, Akuna Station.
Sponsored by South Australian Tourism Commission

Doyle Williams Productions December 2001

This recording is intended for historical preservation. Copyright is held by their respective owners.
Analogue to digital conversion is a time consuming process as it must be done in real time monitoring the video tracking and audio levels with a mixing console.
For more technical details see https://www.didz.me/vhs