Built in 1870, this attractive cottage is one of the few tangible reminders of old Moama, the original riverfront settlement that stood before floods pushed the town westwards to higher ground. Known today as the River Captain's Cottage and now home to a family history centre, I originally assumed it might have housed some sort of river official. The reality appears more interesting. This stretch of river was once known as River Captains Reach, where paddle steamer skippers moored their vessels alongside their homes. One of them was Captain James Symington of the Kelpie, who settled here in the 1870s. It turns out the name commemorates a whole river community rather than a single captain.[7484]

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Not just a poor cousin...

Moama NSW

Built in 1870, this attractive cottage is one of the few tangible reminders of old Moama, the original riverfront settlement that stood before floods pushed the town westwards to higher ground. Known today as the River Captain's Cottage and now home to a family history centre, I originally assumed it might have housed some sort of river official. The reality appears more interesting. This stretch of river was once known as River Captains Reach, where paddle steamer skippers moored their vessels alongside their homes. One of them was Captain James Symington of the Kelpie, who settled here in the 1870s. It turns out the name commemorates a whole river community rather than a single captain.[7484]

Every pair of twin towns seems to have a favourite child, and around here that role belongs to Echuca. Most visitors cross the Murray in search of paddle steamers, the historic wharf and river heritage, barely sparing a glance for Moama on the New South Wales side. That may be a mistake. With a population of about 7,200, Moama is no mere suburb of its Victorian neighbour. We found a busy and growing town, with new subdivisions spreading into what was recently farmland and plenty of evidence that people see a future here. It may have fewer tourist attractions than Echuca, but it has considerably more life than the label "poor cousin" might suggest.

We didn't spend much time in the "new" Moama, apart from a lunch and a dinner, but we did snap some photographs of historical buildings in "old" Moama. The two are separated not just by distance but by history. The original township stood closer to the Murray, where floods regularly caused problems and the great flood of 1870 proved particularly destructive. Over time the settlement shifted westwards to higher ground, leaving behind a scattering of historic sites that hint at Moama's earlier life as a river crossing, trading post and bustling frontier settlement.

The old Echuca–Moama bridge, built in 1878 as a combined road–and–rail crossing linking the states of Victoria and New South Wales, remains a working slice of river history: two narrow lanes pressed beside a now-defunct railway spur, carrying modern traffic much as it once carried horses, wagons, and steam locomotives. Though a newer, wider Murray road crossing now handles most of the load, the original bridge endures as a functional and attractive heritage structure.

One final connection to Moama's past lies in the highway that begins here. The Cobb Highway, which runs north through Deniliquin, Hay, Ivanhoe and ultimately nearly to Wilcannia, takes its name from Cobb & Co, the famous coaching company that once connected remote settlements across inland Australia. Today it is one of the lonelier highways in New South Wales, crossing vast stretches of Riverina and outback country. We've followed sections of it on previous journeys, so it was interesting to see a signpost that reminded us that its southern terminus sits here in Moama.

Transport to Deniliquin

For more than a century, railways linked Melbourne not only to Echuca, but also across the Murray River to Moama and onward to Deniliquin in New South Wales. The arrangement seems unusual today, yet it reflected the economic reality of the Riverina, whose wool, wheat and livestock often flowed south to Melbourne rather than east to Sydney. Passenger trains north of Echuca disappeared in the late 1970s, leaving Echuca as the northern terminus of Victoria's passenger rail network. Today the trains stop there, while V/Line coaches continue across the border through Moama to Deniliquin, preserving a transport corridor that dates back to the great days of riverboats, wool and railways. The Deniliquin example shows how NSW occasionally manages to give up its near border towns to other states. Broken Hill is another example.

Horseshoe Lagoon...

Horseshoe Lagoon, on the Moama side of the old bridge, is a classic oxbow lake, formed when the Murray River abandoned one of its meander loops and adopted a shorter course. The former river bend became isolated from the main channel, leaving behind the horseshoe-shaped lagoon visible today. Unlike the Murray itself, which flows continuously, the lagoon relies largely on floods and high river levels for replenishment. In effect, it is a small piece of the Murray's former course, preserved as a reminder that rivers are never quite as fixed as they appear.

NSW Silo Trail...

The NSW Silo Trail is less heralded than its Victorian equivalent, and we admit that we have not paid it much attention, but in partial atonement for that we visited Blue Crane and Friends on the outskirts of Moama. It would be more accurate to say that we stumbled upon it. Anyway, Blue Crane is an impressive artwork, partly hidden from the highway by trees. It is by Hiroyasu Tsuri, known as TWOONE See Tsuri's bio and more on his webpage. , and that's how the artwork is signed. Signage nearby says that Tsuri is Yokohama born but living in Melbourne, and has major artworks in many places. This work was inspired by local Yorta Yorta stories, in which the White-faced Heron is known as a Blue Crane. We'll have to take note of other works on the NSW Silo Art Trail!

Five Mile downriver...

Old maps of the district label locations known simply as Five Mile and Ten Mile. The names appear to refer to their distance from Moama, a reminder of a time when practical geography often trumped imagination. Today Five Mile remains a popular riverside reserve, proving that not every place-name needs a compelling backstory to endure.

St Anne's Winery...

We were in wine country, so we visited St Anne's for a tasting. While it may not enjoy the international recognition of some of Australia's larger wineries, St Anne's has established a strong presence in the Echuca-Moama region and was an easy choice for an afternoon excursion. We visited the Moama cellar door, sampled a range of wines, and were reminded that one of the pleasures of regional travel is discovering producers that are well known locally but less familiar beyond their home district.