South Australia (Riverland)
Morgan
Following the Murray River from Blanchetown, it’s 36km directly north to MORGAN, the most attractive of the Riverland towns. At the height of the river trade between 1880 and 1915 Morgan was one of South Australia’s busiest river ports, transferring wool from NSW and Victoria onto trains bound for Adelaide at the twelve-metre-high river wharves; although two sections had to be demolished after collapsing in 1994, the rest of the mainly red gum and jarrah wharf remains intact. Morgan was settled in the late 1870s, when Sir William Morgan MP was chief secretary. It quickly became an important port for the river traffic upstream. At one point, when the railway line from Adelaide to Morgan was completed, it was one of the busiest river ports along the entire Murray-Darling river system. The river trade may have died out, but Morgan keeps it alive today with a full working paddlesteamer - the PS Mayflower, built in 1884. Railway services to the town closed in 1969 but the original station has been put to good use as a museum of river and rail history.
You can wander through the riverfront park, past the old train station and the stationmaster’s building, now a museum (sometimes open on weekends, otherwise by appointment; call 08/8540 2085), and up onto the wharves overlooking moored houseboats on the river to bushland beyond. The well-preserved nineteenth-century streetscape of Railway Terrace, the main street, sits above the old railway line and wharf; its focus is the huge Landseer shipping warehouse; a couple of shops cash in on the heritage feel by selling antiques and bric-a-brac.

HISTORICAL MUSEUM AND HERITAGE SOCIETY
In the town's old railway buildings on the waterfront at Morgan, this museum displays artefacts and photographs from the river's paddlesteamer past and rail history. A model of the paddlesteamer 'Lazy Jane' includes an audio-visual presentation. There are also walking areas where visitors can see old rail trucks, rail line and signals, cranes and the old wharf.

Two old pubs have standard accommodation: the Terminus Hotel and the Commercial, sit next to each other, creating a lively riverport feel. You can also stay at Morgan Riverside Caravan Park, in a great spot right in town by the river and the free car ferry across the river to Cadell. 

For food, try the pubs or Morgan Pizza Bar, 17 Railway Terrace (tel 08/8540 2103), which only sells its recommended pizzas Fri–Sun from 5pm – other nights you can get fish and chips and burgers from here.