mmg.com.au

The PS Canberra and a flotilla of Echuca’s paddlesteamers will re-enact a century-old maritime custom on the Murray River to coincide with Canberra’s 100th birthday celebrations tomorrow.

The flotilla of vessels, including the Canberra, Pride of the Murray, PS Emmylou, PS Pevensey and PS Alexander Arthubuthnot, will sail downstream, before rounding up and returning to the PS Canberra’s berth, where world-champion town crier Judy Campbell will ‘cry’ the birthday salute at 11.05am.

Forty district primary school children will dress in period costume and cruise on the Pride of the Murray, while those on board PS Canberra will toast to Canberra.

It will be a special day for Murray River Paddlesteamers captain Peter Garfield, who lived in Canberra for 26 years before moving to Echuca in 1997.

‘‘I will be on the Canberra running the engines and I will give a short speech on the two Canberras — the city and the boat,’’ he said.

Captaining the boat will be James McDougall, 22, the youngest paddlesteamer skipper.

Mr Garfield said the PS Canberra, named after the city as a passing nod by the fisherman who commissioned her, had been in Echuca since 1996 and was one of the few paddlesteamers that had worked on the river nearly all its life.

‘‘We rebuilt her 10 years ago for her 90th birthday, which took about nine months,’’ he said.

The Canberra was also the last of its era of paddlesteamers to launch from the slipway of David Milne and Sons in Goolwa.

The PS Canberra will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the launch on August 2.