PS Gem
The PS Gem is a retired side-wheel paddle steamer that was first launched in 1876 on the Murray River at Moama, New South Wales. She operated as a cargo and passenger steamer, regularly cruising between Morgan and Mildura. The Gem operated as a tourist passenger vessel during the 1930s and 1940s, and was retired in the early 1950s. In 1962 the Gem was sold to the then Swan Hill Folk Museum, where it would become a static display and historic monument. History Launch and early life The Gem was built in 1876 by Air and Westergaard in Moama for Elliot Charles Randell (brother of William Richard Randell, captain of the Mary Ann (1853), the Murray's first paddle steamer). Built of red gum with iron frames, and expected to steam at 15 miles an hour, she was launched on 24 June 1876. The Gem was initially used as a barge, and towed behind the PS Pearl. She made her maiden voyage behind the Pearl on 22 July 1876, leaving Echuca for Hay with a collective 22 tons of cargo and four passengers. It was reported in early 1877 that the Gem and her sister barge Ruby were to be fitted with steam engines (and additional decking) in Echuca. The Gem was fitted with a 40-horsepower engine built by Davey Bros. of Ballarat, and work was completed on both steamers by 30 January 1877. It was August 1877 before the Gem made her maiden voyage of some 1,063 river miles downstream to Goolwa. She returned on 29 September, with a cargo of 180 cases of wine, before leaving once more on 11 October, this time for Hay. It was reported in December 1877 that the Gem and the Ruby were to soon leave for Goolwa, and due to the falling river were not expected to return until the following season, when the Darling River would begin to fill. When the Gem returned to Echuca the following season, on 27 July 1878, she was offered for sale by public auction. Though the reserve was not met, an invitation for private bids was released, and an announcement was later made that the vessel had been sold to E P Sabine, a South Australian river trader. The Gem left Echuca for the Lower Murray on 25 September, never to return. Life on the Lower Murray The Gem arrived at Wentworth on 30 September 1878, and proceeded to travel regularly between there and Blanchetown. This route was adjusted by January 1879, the Gem then offering a regular service between Wentworth and Morgan (where the railway line from Adelaide had recently opened). The ownership of the Gem was transferred in April 1879 to Captain Hugh King (later known as 'The Grand Old Man of the River'), with whom a fortnightly trip from Wentworth to Wilcannia by the Darling River was introduced. King and fellow owners W L Reid and H Reid, trading as Hugh King and Company's Line of River Steamers, felt that the vessel had the