NSWPort & river
Moama
Before Echuca existed, the Murray crossing belonged to Maiden’s punt.
1851Township site fixed at Maiden’s Ferry
WHAT STARTED IT
Drovers taking stock from the Riverina to Melbourne needed a place to cross the Murray, and the banks here gave an easy crossing on the shortest route south. James Maiden built a punt and the Junction Inn in the mid-1840s, and the government fixed a township at ‘Maiden’s Ferry’ in 1851.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Moama boomed as a cattle market in the gold-rush years, but Henry Hopwood’s rival crossing at Echuca soon outgrew it. In 1876 the privately built Deniliquin and Moama Railway linked the Riverina to Victoria’s lines through Moama, and the iron road and rail bridge to Echuca followed in 1878–79.
TURNING POINTS
1846James Maiden begins building the Junction Inn beside his punt.
1851A township named Moama is fixed at Maiden’s Ferry on the Murray.
1854Moama has become the largest cattle market outside Melbourne.
1876The Deniliquin and Moama Railway opens on 4 July.
1879The iron bridge to Echuca, finished in 1878, is opened by residents in the ‘Bridge Riot’.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A fast-growing NSW border town facing Echuca across the Murray, with river frontage, clubs and resorts. Its 1880s courthouse and the precinct beside the bridge recall the crossing town.