P.S. Ruby Riverboat

The P.S. Ruby was built in Morgan, South Australia, in 1907 and was 250 tons gross and 130' 9" in length. She carried thirty passengers and was also laden with cargo as she cruised the Murray River between Morgan and Swan Hill, Victoria. She was privately purchased in 1938 and brought to Mildura as a houseboat. In 1968 the Wentworth Rotary Club purchased P.S. Ruby and towed her to Wentworth and placed in Fotherby Park. She remained there for thirty years and slowly detiorated. In 1996 the Wentworth Rotary Club presented her to the Wentworth community under the trusteeship of the Wentworth Shire Council. It was at this time that the Ruby Restoration Committee was formed in order to restore her to her original glory. It took over six years to re-plank her and float her on Australia Day, 2002. Since then she has been almost completely refitted according to her original configuration. At the present time the boiler, steam engine, shafts, mountings and paddle wheels are being restored and made ready for assembly. The twenty horse power Roby steam engine, completed in 1926, is a newer design and should be ideal for the P.S. Ruby. The P.S. Ruby will be recommissioned on 11th July 2004 and handed back to the community of Wentworth. From that time on the P.S. Ruby will be managed by the newly formed P.S. Ruby Board of Management.