Epic journey for historic boat

“This is believed to be the largest haulage of a marine vessel this old ever undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere,” Mr Kinnon said.

“Everyone thinks I’m mad. To build a purpose-built boat from scratch would have been a significantly cheaper option but it didn’t meet my own brief — which is for our Longreach-based tourism operation to remain true to history.

“When I found out the Pride of the Murray was looking for a new home, I knew I’d found a genuine outback pioneering artefact we just had to preserve.

“The only problem — this perfect piece of Australian history is giant and 1750km from Longreach.”

Warrick Corney of Freightlancer was tasked with co-ordinating the logistics of the move.

“It might sound easy but it is a massive undertaking,” he said.

“This is not a move that has ever been attempted before in Australia.

“However, the Kinnons have that true pioneering spirit in spades and are so dedicated to history conservation we’re going to make the impossible, possible.

“It’s an extremely delicate operation. It’s a 100-year-old boat we are lifting out of the water and putting it on top of a trailer before we drive it from Victoria to Queensland.

“The route we have specifically chosen because it’s quite straight and had less obstructions for a mega road train.”

Before the boat was winched from the water the wheelhouse was removed because of height restrictions and placed on a separate truck to be transported to Longreach.

The remainder of the boat was then winched out of the water and laid across large inflatable bags before being placed on stands with the 26-metre trailer than backed in underneath it and the boat gently lowered down.

“The trailer itself is massive,” Mr Corney said.

“To give you a visual of the size of it, the trailer alone is rated at 192 tonne and the entire rig has 106 tyres under it to soften the pressure on the road.”

The giant trailer is 8.7 metres wide and some bridges it will travel over are not that wide — it will need to be lifted higher for parts of the journey to ensure it does not hit guard rails.

“It’s big machinery but a delicate operation, so the maximum speed of travel is 80km/h, it will also be tall, so we negotiated to have crews from each electrical company travel with us along the way to lift up power lines as we come through areas where they are low,” Mr Corney said.

As of May 27, the convoy had not yet left Echuca due to concerns about rain and restrictions on what days and times it can travel.

Once on the move the convoy will be supported by police and pilot vehicles and as it can only travel during daylight hours, will stop overnight in regional towns along the way.

Mr Kinnon admitted it would be a stressful journey, but worth it in the end.

“We are putting a 100-old-year vessel like Noah’s Ark on a truck and bringing it to the outback of Australia,” he said.

“We’re passionate about educating people about Australia’s proud pioneering history and once the paddle-wheeler is recommissioned, 100 people a day will get to relive an authentic river experience.”

The vessel will be restored in Longreach over the coming months and it is hoped it will be operational in June.

“The incentive for me and the Kinnon family is millions of tourists will get to enjoy riding the Pride of the Murray on the Thomson River for another 100 years,” Mr Kinnon said.