black and white photograph, before 1924

Historical information

This photograph shows the Lady Harriett, her barge, the Wyrallah and Storm Bird with Captain Jimmy Bills at Harbeck's wharf, Lakes Entrance,
The Lady Harriett was a small steamer that serviced the Tambo River and other areas. In 1895 the Lady Harriett was advertised to run between Bairnsdale
and Mallacoota on a weekly service. The Lady Harriett and barge did two or three trips up the Tambo per week. She did not carry passengers or run to a timetable and would carry maize and beans as well as fish from Mallacoota where by 1900 the fishing industry was well established' Lady Harriett towed her barge carrying an assortment of goods up the Tambo from 1895 to 1913. The S.S. Wyrallah was a regular Melbourne header for over twenty years. She was run down and sunk by the steamer Dilkera with the loss of six lives at Port Philip Head. (ref. The Argus Friday April 11 1924)

Significance

This is a pictorial record of a once busy wharf. From Lakes Entrance ocean-going vessels had access to the Gippsland Lakes, the largest navigable inland waterway in Australia.

Physical description

A large black / white photograph of two large ships and two smaller ones at a wharf. There are people on the wharf and on the boats.

Inscriptions & markings

on back - "Jo-Bull", L-R Lady Harriet.........."

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