A timber yard at Echuca. The boats belong to the Murray River Sawmill. The outrigger barges in ...

A timber yard at Echuca. The boats belong to the Murray River Sawmill. The outrigger barges in the foreground were used to bring logs from Barmah forest. Two paddle steamers can be seen on the far river bank and a barge for carrying logs is visible near the bank in the foreground. The closest steamer is the Adelaide, she worked for the mill from 1872 until retirement in 1958. Echuca and Koondrook were possibly the only places to use outriggers due to their close proximity to the mill. The outriggers were only ever towed upstream empty. For the downstream forest they used an insider barge. Note the large logs in the foreground and on the right of the photograph. One of a series of photographs taken by C. E. W. Bean during two trips he made in 1908 and 1909 to regional NSW as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald. The purpose of these trips was to research the wool industry of western NSW and the transportation and railway possibilities of the Darling River region. Photographs from the private collection of C. E. W. Bean held at AWM38 3DRL 6673.