The River, the Rails, and the Bridges: A Historical Telling of Yarrawonga-Mulwala's Crossings
Before the arrival of the railway in 1886, the Murray River served as the region’s primary transport artery. Paddle steamers were the lifeblood of river commerce, making their way upriver as far as Albury, ferrying vital goods such as timber, wheat, wool, and general merchandise. Among these vessels were two notable steamers—The Pilot, often described as the slowest craft on the river, and The Australien, both of which met their fate in Lake Mulwala.
Though The Pilot found its final resting place beneath the lake’s waters, its paddle wheels were salvaged and now stand proudly on display outside the Yarrawonga Mulwala Visitor Information Centre. The Australien, meanwhile, is undergoing careful restoration in Echuca, a testament to the enduring legacy of river transport in the region.
Punts and Early River Crossings
Long before bridges spanned the Murray, punts were the only means of crossing the river between Yarrawonga and Mulwala. Operating from 1850 to 1890, these flat-bottomed ferries were essential for trade and travel. One of the earliest recorded attempts to establish a crossing came in 1855, when a Mulwala hotelier named McRae constructed a punt. However, the venture failed to gain traction, as most preferred the established crossing at Wahgunyah.
It wasn’t until 1874 that a successful punt operation took hold. Robert Halburd, a local entrepreneur, built what became Yarrawonga’s most reliable and well-known punt, operating near the present-day traffic bridge. In 1879, William Coghill attempted to launch a rival service slightly west of Halburd’s route. Strangely, Coghill’s punt sank the very next day under mysterious circumstances, and Halburd continued operations uninterrupted until the opening of the first traffic bridge in 1891.
Bridging the Murray
The need for a permanent crossing led to the construction of Yarrawonga and Mulwala’s first traffic bridge, a wooden structure whose building began in 1889 and was completed in 1891. Its opening was marked by three days of spirited celebration, reflecting the community’s pride in this engineering milestone. The bridge connected the Yarrawonga end near today’s traffic bridge to Mulwala near the present-day Capri Waters Country Club.
As with all border crossings between colonies at the time, customs houses were established to collect duties on goods such as grain and livestock. The restored Yarrawonga Mulwala Customs House, located beside today’s road bridge and next to the Visitor Information Centre, offers a tangible reminder of this period in colonial trade.
By 1915, the wooden bridge had begun to deteriorate and was deemed unsafe. In 1924, it was replaced by the current steel and concrete structure, still in use today. Remnants of the original wooden pylons can still be glimpsed when Lake Mulwala is lowered or drained.
Interestingly, the original bridge design was intended to cross the Murray at a right angle, heading directly southeast toward Coghill or Murphy Street—a standard bridge alignment for the time. However, traders along Belmore Street, recognizing the potential loss of business from traffic bypassing the commercial heart of town, lobbied the Victorian Government to re-route the alignment. Their efforts succeeded, resulting in the distinctive curve that remains in the bridge’s current design. The 1924 bridge followed a similar curved alignment, set about 50 metres downstream at its furthest point from the original.
The Bridge’s Infamous Dip
One curious feature of the 1924 bridge still puzzles visitors and locals alike: the dip on the southern (Victorian) end. Originally, the plan was for a smooth descent from Melbourne Street, across the three main river spans, then over the mudflats via an earthen embankment, before gently descending to Belmore Street. However, the community rejected the earthen embankment as unsightly, and it was replaced with concrete pylons.
Due to miscommunication between two Victorian contractors—one responsible for the mudflats section, the other for the lagoon span—the newly constructed pylon section was 900mm higher than planned. Because decking had already commenced from the southern (NSW) end, it had to rise sharply to meet the elevated lagoon section, creating the now-familiar dip. Had the lagoon bridge been constructed at the originally intended height, this dip would have been avoided entirely.
The Railway Crossings
The story of Yarrawonga’s crossings continued with the advent of the railway. Construction of the first wooden railway bridge began in 1927, with the line reaching Oaklands, 60 km north of Mulwala, by 1932. The original wooden structure remained in place until 1975, when it was replaced by an earthen embankment. Finally, in 1989, the last remaining section of the wooden railway bridge was replaced by modern concrete and steel, completing the evolution from river punts to steel spans.