Captain Francis Cadell

Francis Cadell arrived in Adelaide in 1852 after a number of years as a seaman and in studying shipbuilding, including the emerging technology of steam driven ships.

When he learned of the incentive being offered by the South Australian Government for successful navigation of the River Murray, Cadell began to negotiate with the government and arranged a series of bonuses for taking a steamship through the Murray mouth, for reaching the junction of the Murray/Darling Rivers and a further bonus for continuing to operate on the river for a year. His vessel the Lady Augusta was built in Sydney, sailed to South Australia and safely negotiated the Murray Mouth in August 1863. Returned to paddle steamer mode Cadell shortly afterwards with passengers and a barge in tow steamed up the river to Swan Hill.

Cadell formed the River Murray Navigation Company and was employed by the New South Wales and South Australian governments in clearing snags from the rivers. He expanded into various other shipping business on the Murray/Darling and other Australian rivers, but by 1863 had sold the last of his boats. In 1867 he lead an unsuccessful expedition to the Northern Territory, and subsequently moved into pearling and whaling in northern Australian waters.

Allen, James Journal of an experimental trip by the "Lady Augusta', on the River Murray.Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia, 1976. Australiana facsimile editions; 202. First published, Adelaide: C.G.E. Platts, 1853.

Nicholson, John The incomparable Captain Cadell East Melbourne, Victoria: Allen & Unwin, 2004

Phillips, Peter J. Redgum & paddlewheels: Australia's inland river trade Collingwood, Vic.: Greenhouse, 1980 pp. 9-18

Australian Dictionary of Biography online: Cadell, Francis (1822-1879)

Francis Cadell (explorer)