Mannum is the one place in South Australia where the River Murray is crossed by two ferries working next to each other. Water Hen carries more traffic than any other boat in the state's fleet; Boobook, smaller, works alongside it, and each stands in for the other when one is out of service.
Status of both ferries read from the South Australian government's table on 7 October 2026 (table stamped 'Last updated: 8.56 am, 7 October 2026') Government of South Australia – Ferry locations and operational status · 2026-10-07
Compared with every other River Murray crossing in South Australia, Mannum is doubled. Upstream, at Cadell, Morgan or Purnong, one ferry works a single cable and a closure means a detour to the next town; at Mannum the state keeps two boats side by side between Ferry Road and the Cowirra bank, listed as Mannum #1 downstream and Mannum #2 upstream. They are not twins either. The downstream boat, Water Hen (870-004), is one of the department's big ferries: room for twelve sedan-sized vehicles and 101 people, a 30-metre deck and a 45.5-tonne limit. Boobook (879-028), upstream, takes eight units, 67 people, 22 metres and 42.5 tonnes.
The traffic explains the pair. According to the department's technical table, Water Hen carries about 850 vehicles a day, the highest count of the twelve ferries on the river, and Boobook a further 440, which on its own matches the whole crossing at Morgan. Both are free, both run around the clock, and both are crewed by Murrundi Ferry Services, the contractor the state's transport department pays to run them.
When the state's table was updated at 8.56 am on 7 October 2026, Mannum #1 and Mannum #2 were both shown as currently operational, with no closure or restriction listed against either.
Crossing costs nothing on either boat. The choice of ferry matters only for big rigs: Water Hen accepts combinations to a 45.5-tonne, 30-metre ceiling, while Boobook stops at 42.5 tonnes and 22 metres.
| Car, ute or motorbike | Free |
| Caravan or trailer combination | Free |
| Truck within the boat's limit | Free |
| On foot or by bicycle | Free |
No charge, as published by the South Australian government and read on 7 October 2026 Government of South Australia – River Murray ferries · 2026-10-07
Mannum lies on the stretch the state groups as Below lock 1, with Purnong, Walker Flat and Swan Reach above it. Upstream, the next boat is the one at Purnong, and beyond it Walker Flat; downstream there is no other ferry before the road bridges at Murray Bridge and Swanport, which the state lists as the way round for Mannum #1. Further down again, past those bridges, the same contractor works the ferry at Tailem Bend.
Both ramps on the town side sit next to each other at the bottom of Ferry Road, so a driver choosing between the boats only needs to pick a lane. The state limits width at every landing to 5 metres, which is already narrower than either deck.
The eastern ramps land at Cowirra and feed Hunter Road. In the 2022 flood it was the junction of Hunter and Burdett roads, not the ferries, that finally cut the Cowirra side off from town.
Water Hen's deck runs 30 metres between its gates and Boobook's only 22, and that gate-to-gate figure is the longest combination each will take. Anything longer than 22 metres belongs on the downstream boat.
The state rates Water Hen for 45.5 tonnes per vehicle combination and Boobook for 42.5. If your rig falls between the two, only one of the Mannum ferries can carry it.
Water Hen holds twelve sedan-sized units and 101 people, Boobook eight units and 67 people. Each trip on the bigger boat moves half as many vehicles again.
When the river rose in 2022, the department closed Boobook first, on 1 December, and kept Water Hen working while the river went on rising. Watch the state's table once the Murray climbs.
Mannum's river story starts with a boat that was built for the water, not across it. In February 1853 William Randell launched the Mary Ann from his father's pastoral run, Noa No, at the spot that became the town; the state's 1984 heritage survey calls her certainly the first steamer launched on the Murray. She was fifty-five feet long, her blacksmith-made boiler swelled under pressure until it was bolted and chained, and that boiler now stands as Randell's monument in Sturt Reserve. Randell brought a dry dock from Milang so his boats could be repaired at home, the government surveyed a township in 1864, and the town grew on the land where he had been transhipping cargo for a decade. Boobook, the upstream ferry, has its own short history elsewhere on the river: it was the last of the four steel-hulled ferries of the 2014–2018 renewal, which first carried passengers in October 2018, down at Walker Flat, before the state moved it here.
The 2022–23 flood tested the double crossing to its limit. The department shut Boobook from 7pm on 1 December 2022 and kept Water Hen running, but by 13 December both Mannum boats were out of service. On 27 December the government hired a local cruise operator, Four Knots Murray River Cruises, to run a free passenger-only boat between Mannum and Cowirra: twenty seats, life jackets on, roughly fifteen minutes on the water, every 30 minutes from 6.30am to 6pm, boarding near the Bowling Club beside the Pretoria Hotel and on the Cowirra levee off Hallam Terrace. It lasted a day and a half. At 12:30pm on 28 December the Burdett Road and Hunter Road junction closed under an SES evacuation notice, and the stand-in ferry stopped with it. When the department's ferries came back in February 2023, both Mannum boats still turned away heavy traffic: councils had capped the weight allowed on the roads down to the river, so only light cars, emergency crews, school buses and the road-safety fleet could cross.
On 7 October 2026 yes: the South Australian government's table, updated at 8.56 am that day, listed both Mannum #1 downstream and Mannum #2 upstream as working normally, and the closures column was empty. For a same-day check, ring Murrundi Ferry Services on 8569 1839.
The downstream one, Water Hen. Its deck is 30 metres long and it accepts combinations up to 45.5 tonnes; Boobook, upstream, stops at 22 metres and 42.5 tonnes. Whichever boat you take, a 5-metre width cap applies at the landings.
Because of the traffic: the state counts about 850 vehicles a day on Water Hen and 440 on Boobook. A second boat halves the queues and keeps the crossing open when one ferry is taken out for maintenance.
On the other one. The department's notices from 2019 to 2021 named the other Mannum boat as the alternative every time. If both are shut, the state's table lists the Purnong ferry upstream and the Murray Bridge or Swanport bridges downstream.
No. Neither boat charges a fare, day or night.
From Mannum. William Randell launched the Mary Ann there in February 1853, from his father's property Noa No; her boiler is displayed in Sturt Reserve in the town.
For a short time by a free passenger boat. With both ferries closed, the government had Four Knots Murray River Cruises run a 20-seat service between Mannum and Cowirra every 30 minutes from 27 December 2022; it stopped at 12:30pm on 28 December when floodwater closed the Hunter Road junction at Cowirra.