Goulburn River, Murchison.

We were not certain why the steps here run right down into the water. Perhaps when the river is lower it connects a river walk?

Certainly a nice walk down to take a look at the point where the river crossing punt was. This was a toll crossing. One shilling for a person to cross would have been expensive. 2 shillings for a horse and rider. There were even rates for herds of cattle, sheep and bullock teams.

This point in the river was the easiest crossing for a long stretch so I suppose people wanting to get from one side to the other had the choice of swimming across or paying up.

Those days the technique was to strip down to shorts and pack everything into an oilskin bag or saddle pack. This was secured to the horse and then off you went. Hoses are surprisingly good swimmers and in flood waters will easily swim across a fast flowing creek with a horseman hanging on to their tail.

One might wonder in these days of risk driven workplaces, just how anyone survived day to day as recently as one hundred years ago.En savoir plus