THE RIVERBOAT MAN



Cyril  with riverboat  display  and  the  Oscar W.

An axe murder, a  drowning, snakes galore  and illegally fishing the Murray River with a policeman –these were some of the memories of one of Australia’s  last oldtime riverboat  men,  Cyril Treloar, of  South Australia . He  spent  20 years   from 1925 on  steamboats and  barges plying  the   Darling and   Murray.

By Peter Simon

Cyril  , aged  86,  was living in  Saddleworth , in the  mid north of  SA , in  the  l990s , when  he  was  interviewed for  this article ; he died  at nearby Riverton . One of  eight  children, he left school at 14 and went to work in  an Adelaide  biscuit factory for  17 shillings and sixpence ($1.75) a  week, 15  shillings   ($1.50)  going to his mother for  board. His father , a  commercial  traveller, developed gout  and a doctor advised him to  take up  pick and shovel work   to  remedy the painful ailment. The gout went, but  his father  kept  up  the  hard yakka .

Cyril next  went to work for the Dodge car agents , Waymouth Motor Company. He taught himself how to drive  on a vacant allotment  owned by the company. A  memorable experience was the time   he  was driven to Port Adelaide in a  company truck to pick up new Dodge cars  which had  arrived  by ship. Six of the uncrated  cars were  tied together in a string  and towed   into the  city  by the truck , Cyril behind the  wheel  and  in control of the third .

After  a spell  pressing seams in the American Tailoring Company, he went  bush to work on a  fruit block  for a Cadell soldier settler,Joe Parker, said to have been awarded the Croix de Guerre  and other medals  for his  WW1 service.  The first night at Parker’s place, Cyril, afraid of the dark, asked his new boss  if he could borrow  his  chamberpot. This caused much  hilarity  and  Parker  delighted  in  telling   the episode  over and  over   to  people in the district.  Cyril admitted he did not work too hard on the block ..."I spent too much time chasing birds with a shanghai."

Next he worked at historic  Brenda Park Station, near Blanchetown, owned by Sidney Wilcox,called "Sir Sidney" by his workers . An extensive  stone wall topped by a  railway line  had been built  around the river flats  as part of an extensive irrigation system. Two specially  adapted   Ford  trucks  slowly chugged  along the  railway line  carrying  men and   materials. An elderly Afghan, Mahomet , looked after 200 pigs  and when he died it was claimed he  was 110.  It changed ownership  and  name  several times -  bought  by Penfolds , sold to Southcorp Wines , later to Byrnes  Brothers , reverting  to the  name  Brenda Park  Estate.


Paddle steamer  Gem -Queen of the Murray .

Cyril went to work  for Morgan  butcher Bob Tham  and often delivered  meat to the many riverboats  which operated from the busy port and railhead.  Attracted to  the  boats , he asked Bob Searles ,  skipper of of the paddle steamer  Gem , called Queen of the Murray , for a job  and was sent to see   the mate, Huey McLean, one of three brothers prominent in the riverboat world . When Cyril, 16, fronted  the mate , he was made  feel less than  welcome. Mclean had ranted about another " bloody schoolkid"  and how  past ones  had been  useless. Despite the outburst , he gave Cyril  a job  as  a  deckhand and  they  became  good friends .

Much to his delight, Cyril  found himself  working on the passenger / cargo  carrying  Gem which  made weekly trips  to Mildura and back  for the Murray Navigation Company. The three decker carried up to  52 passengers  and crew, stopping at Waikerie , Loxton, Renmark  and Mildura .


Morgan wharf was  a hive of activity in those days, its five cranes   often busily engaged  loading and  unloading  vessels with a string  of other riverboats lined up waiting   to use the facilities . Up to seven trains a day  arrived from Adelaide  during the peak periods .Some passengers  were world travellers with luggage   stickers  from many countries. It was Cyril’s task to lug the heavy suitcases  from the  railway station  to  the  Gem.

MEAN PASSENGERS , NICE  FRIED  BANANAS

Globetrotters rarely gave him a tip . One traveller, however, gave him some stale buns  left over  from the train trip from Adelaide. The Gem was a grand old lady, 133ft long, with an upstream speed of  71/2knots and downstream,11 knots,  consumed  half  a ton  of wood an hour. The crew consisted of the captain, mate, engineer, fireman, cook, cook’s assistant, two stewardesses and six deckhands .

Tables were set  with crisp white napery, crystal and silver.One of the stewardesses played the piano at night  and passengers   would sing popular songs . Cards were played in the saloon. From memory,Cyril said there was a menu of about seven  dishes , including Murray Cod. The cook impressed  Cyril  by  making delicious  fried  bananas .

On one trip they carried  1000 tins of benzine  below deck which had to be carried across a plank at Mildura.  Hogsheads  of wine and cases  of  oranges  were brought back  to Morgan.

On the  1889 Echuca built  steamboat ,The Colonel,  skippered by Hugh Mclean, Cyril made  several trips  up the Darling  loading  wool. The vessel  was ideal for low water conditions  and was said to be the  first boat  built at Echuca   with iron topsides , lighter than redgum. She had   a  colourful past, having run beer, wine and spirits –listed as groceries  to Wentworth, NSW , to be smuggled into Mildura when prohibition applied .

THE  AXE  MURDER 

Cyril’s most unpleasant  experience  was sleeping next to bloodstains   from an axe murder  aboard the barge Koondrook, towed by the Murrabit . A young, simple-minded   crewman, bullied  and taunted by an older man ,experienced grog for the first  time  and took to his tormentor with an axe . He was sentenced to 15 years’ prison  for  manslaughter. Because of the horrific  event, the Murrabit became  nicknamed  "Murder Boat ". Large bloodstains  were still visible  when  Cyril joined the barge crew 

In another tragedy, a man fell overboard at  night and they fished his body out the next  day.  Swaggies were numerous along the rivers and there were bands of Aborigines  at nearly very  bend .Trees   could  be seen from which Aborigines had cut  large pieces of bark  to make canoes . Woodcutters supplied  the riverboats with  fuel. One , a Scot, Jock McGuinness , amused Cyril because the man  lived mainly on galahs  and his clothes and hair  were festooned with pink feathers. Another woodcutter  joined Cyril  in  playing  the  mandolin .

Drunken skippers  and crewmen  figured  in Cyril’s  many anecdotes.He saw men so drunk they  crawled aboard  along a  a narrow plank  at night risking  death through drowning  if they fell in. A nervous cook was  so worried about a  drunken skipper  he wisely did not  go to sleep in his cabin , remaining alert and ready to abandon ship.  The skipper  ran the boat into a  big tree  which badly damaged the cook’s cabin. Some of the men delighted in getting drunk and  challenging  local  police. 

RIVERBOAT  RIVALRY,  FLOODS, ELEPHANTS

 There was great rivalry between the " Top Enders " , riverboat men  from other states , and "Bottom Enders", those from South Australia.While this rivalry led to many brawls , they often went to the aid  of each other  if they got into difficulties on the waterways.Tarpaulins caught alight, snags were a  constant problem  and boats were   often  stranded with little or no water  to travel  on .  Overhanging branches  would suddenly rip  off bales of wool, smash superstructure  and sweep a person  overboard.

Then there were  flashfloods  that sent putrid  torrents of  water   carrying  dead camels, stock, rabbits and other  rotting animals  down  rivers. A friend of Cyril’s lost  three fingers  when his arm  was dragged into a block during loading . Some  riverboat skippers  were so eager for business  they would stop anywhere "they heard a  dog bark".The arrival of a riverboat  at each port of  call sparked frenzied activity . Wentworth, he recalled, was usually a busy place   with wool being delivered by Ford trucks  and  camel , donkey and bullock teams.

The best skipper he knew was Lance" Porky" Mclean , a powerful man  of about  18 stone  who was known to walk  hotel bars  on his hands .  The  skipper Cyril disliked most  was an ex-policeman  who treated everybody "like dogs".Cyril got even  with him when they were loading loading a mountain of scrapmetal.The bad tempered   skipper  was in the hold  and Cyril , passing the scrap, deliberately kept  the awkward chunks  coming at a fast rate   and "worked him to death".

During  quite  periods  ashore, Cyril  tried his hand at  many jobs in Morgan; there was a saying about town ,"Cyril will do it ."His many jobs included cutting lignum for two shillings and sixpence  (25 cents ) an acre, posthole digging, building renovations , wireless repairs, car painting and projectionist at the Morgan Institure  for the well attended   film nights . He  even  trucked four elephants   for  Wirths’ Circus . During a  drought he netted an area  about a dam  and trapped  2000  thirsty rabbits  which he sold to Adelaide . When Morgan butcher  and racehorse owner  Tom Richards   drained a  lagoon  and planted it  with wheat, Cyril helped harvest  the  bumper crop and killed 73 snakes in the process, 70 of   them tiger.

Loading van aboard riverboat during a flood .

A big event in  Morgan in the 1930s  had been  the  time  the famous Australian Olympic swimmer, Boy Charlton, the recent    subject of a recent  ABC   TV special , competed in  races . Cyril said he  was twice beaten  by  local wheat farmer, Sid "Toots" Salesbury, who could carry two bags of wheat , one under each arm up a stack. Salesbury was often seen  swimming  at  a fast rate in  the river  with  his  son  on  his  back .

Some of the other boats that Cyril  served on  were the J. G. Arnold, Corowa , Cowirra , Croupier , Crowie , William Davies , Decoy , Emerald , Kulnine, Oscar W , Renmark , Success , Ukee , WFB  and  Wanera .

His wife , (Mavis ) Joyce , nee Read,  came from a  family involved  in the  early riverboat  trade. As  a  young girl  she had  lived aboard an old riverboat  at Murray Bridge  which had  belonged to  a pioneer   skipper. Cyril’s last run  was  in 1945  aboard  the Industry , on which his wife was the cook . Each day, the  skipper, Victor Byrne, would  blow the whistle , call Cyril to the wheelhouse  and tell him to  help his wife  cut the meat . Later in the day, he  would  sound  the whistle again  and  tell Cyril to  help  his  wife  wash  the dishes . That year Cyril was  selected to be one of  four bush carpenters  to set up a camp for construction of the  water pumpline   from  Morgan to Whyalla. During  excavation  of  the pump site  at Morgan explosives  were  used and  fossils including shark  teeth were unearthed .  

While  living   in   Saddleworth  he  was a handyman  and  strummed   his  reinforced  mandolin  at  dances in  the  district .  A work bench reminded him of  the long gone  riverboat days ...  made from  the old steamboat Renmark  with  a  vice salvaged  from the wreck of the cargo  vessel , Monada, formerly the Princess Royal .