Side view of PS Success in Lock 3 ahead of PS Canally and PS Renmark, with lock construction in foreground. Several crew seem to be pulling on the rudder of Success. Lock 3 is at Kingston or Overland Corner on the River Murray in South Australia.

Regulating the flow of the River Murray, and its tributaries the Darling and Murrumbidgee was meant to even out seasonal variations in the river level. Shipping on the Murray River system was the main means of getting goods upriver to the towns and stations and bringing wool, wheat and the products of the irrigation colonies back downstream to markets. In a good year the river was navigable for about eight months, and for a distance of some 5,000 kilometres.

Low water at the end of summer produced some difficulties; in drought years the rivers ran dry. When the irrigators arrived on the Murray in the 1870s, they wanted a more even, controlled flow of water, and in particular needed it in the peak or summer season. Irrigators and navigators were set for conflict.

The droughts of the late 19th century which culminated in the Federation drought resulted in agreement being reached to 'drought proof' the river. It would be another decade before the Federal and three State governments decided exactly how this could happen. In 1924 the agreement was amended to prioritise building of irrigation structures rather than those required for navigation. The riverboat trade was already declining due to the increase in railways which took trade away from them.

However the paddle steamers were also vital to the construction of the locks, carrying stone, cement and all other supplies that were needed for the construction of the locks, and for the families that built them.

Success (ship)

Renmark (ship)

Canally (ship)

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing exhibitions. Wooden Walls and Iron Sides August 2004-