P.S. Mary Ann

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[P.S. Mary Ann]
[P.S. Lady Augusta]
[P.S. Gem]
[P.S. Pyap]
[Vega (Barge)]
[1853 - 2003]

The P.S. Mary Ann, Swan Hill, 1853.

BUILT :             Gumeracha / Mannum, South Australia.           

WHO:               William Richard Randell (Captain) 

                        Thomas George Randell (Mate)

                        Elliot Randell (Engineer)           

DESIGN:            William Randell - home made.          

TYPE:                Steamer - wooden (gum); 2 masts and sails to assist.

NAMED:              Mary Ann, after the Randell sons' mother.              

LAUNCHED:        Noa No Station, Mannum, 19 February 1853.      

CAPTAIN:           William Randell 

PURPOSE:          To sell flour to settlers along the Murray River and to the

                        goldminers around the Bendigo and Ovens area. Randell 

                        felt that he could make a good profit.        

COST:               About 1500 pounds.

DIMENSIONS: 

	Length - 55' (16.5m)
	Beam - 9' (2.25m)
	Breadth across the deck - n/a
	Depth of hold - n/a
	Engines - 7 horsepower
	Boiler - 6'9'' (2m 25mm) long by 3'11" (1m 175mm) wide and 2'10" (850mm) deep
	Draft - < 2'

FOOTNOTE:

1855 - P.S. Mary Ann's hull was incorporated into the double hulled steamer, the P.S. Gemini. In 1865 Randell took apart the doubled hull of the P.S. Gemini. He used the hull belonging to the P.S. Mary Ann as a barge. The barge was used for a few years before it sank at Mannum. The other hull was used to build the P.S. Nil Desperandum.

Captain William Randell stands beside the boiler of the P.S. Mary Ann. Today it can be found in the Mannum Dock Museum, Mannum, South Australia.

The boiler now at Mary-Ann Reserve, Mannum, South Australia is a replica.

The Murray River Flag (or similar) first flown at Goolwa, to honour the P.S. Mary Ann, the first paddle steamer.