A ferry has crossed the Murray at Speewa for over a hundred years, and more than once the state that owns it has looked at shutting it. Today it is a free, three-car crossing run by Transport for NSW about 20 kilometres north of Swan Hill, with hours that need reading carefully on a Friday or Saturday.
Hours transcribed from the NSW Government vehicle ferries page (managed by Transport for NSW, updated 23 September 2026), read on 1 October 2026. No change for Speewa is announced for the following period NSW Government (Transport for NSW) – Vehicle ferries: Speewa ferry · 2026-10-01
The oldest part of the Speewa story is a borrowed ferry. According to the history published by the former Wakool Shire Council, the first ferry here is believed to have run in about 1914, and in 1928 a ferry from Tooleybuc, launched back in 1888, was brought here as the crossing opened for public use. The NSW Government's own visitor listing dates the start earlier, to 1904, and says locals still remember the ferry being worked by hand winch. Both sources are official; they simply disagree, and we give you both.
The modern chapter began in 1979, when the ferry was replaced at a cost of $100,000. The shire's history lists the spending that followed: concrete ramps upgraded in 1980 for $90,000, extended in 1981 for $20,000, and a $130,000 overhaul in 1982. Today the crossing belongs to Transport for NSW, which runs it free of charge and describes a ferry able to carry 3 cars on a trip of about 3 minutes.
Speewa costs nothing. Every vehicle ferry Transport for NSW runs is free, and the NSW Government's visitor listing for Speewa calls it toll-free, so it does not matter which side of the border you start from or whose registration plates you carry.
| Car or ute | Free |
| Car towing a small trailer | Free |
| Cyclist or walker | Free |
No fare, as stated by Transport for NSW and the NSW visitor listing, both read on 1 October 2026 NSW Government (Transport for NSW) – Vehicle ferries · 2026-10-01
The ferry sits on an unclassified road between Swan Hill and Nyah, and the Wakool Shire noted that there is no other crossing point between those two towns. That is why a closure matters here: when Transport for NSW took the ferry out for maintenance from 12 September to 3 November 2023, Murray River Council warned that the detour via the Swan Hill Bridge or the Nyah Bridge added up to 30 minutes. The state's visitor listing calls Speewa one of only two ferries crossing the Murray on the NSW–Victoria border; the other is the Wymah ferry east of Albury. Downstream, once the river enters South Australia, the free punts at Cadell and Walker Flat are run by a different government on different terms: round the clock rather than by the day. Transport for NSW keeps some of its own crossings going through the night too, among them the Lawrence ferry on the Clarence.
Speewa Ferry Road comes down from the north and ends at the water, which is exactly where the state's topographic data draws the start of the ferry line. The NSW government's visitor listing uses this road as the ferry's address. The district itself straddles the border: the old Wakool Shire described it as three places, Speewa on the Victorian side, Speewa Island and the Speewa NSW mainland.
The southern ramp is in Victoria, on the Swan Hill side of the river, and Transport for NSW puts the trip across at three minutes. The Victorian approach road is not named in the NSW dataset, so we do not name it either; the state simply places the ferry on an unclassified road between Swan Hill and Nyah.
Transport for NSW lists service breaks every day from 10:00am to 10.20am, 12:40pm to 1:00pm and 6:30pm to 7:00pm. Arrive just after one starts and you wait twenty or thirty minutes.
The state takes the ferry out for maintenance on the second Monday of each month, from 10.30am until 12:00pm.
Transport for NSW says the ferry carries 3 cars; the NSW visitor listing says two. Either way, a queue of five cars means a second trip.
The official hours for both days end at "12:00pm", which could be read as midday or midnight. Have the Swan Hill or Nyah bridge in your plan if you are crossing late in the day.
What kept Speewa going was the community on both banks. The Wakool Shire recorded that the state's roads authority considered closing the ferry in 1995 because of its maintenance and repair costs, and that it backed down after a public and local-government outcry; the shire listed other threats of closure in 1977 and again in 1999. In between, on 8 December 1986, the National Trust notified the shire that the Speewa ferry had been classified and placed on its register, and the council later listed it as a heritage item in its local environmental plan. The shire also noted that the funding was shared between the Victorian and New South Wales governments, because the ferry serves both sides. That arrangement is documented only in the 2019 version of the page, so we report it as history rather than as current policy.
The Wakool Shire's website has since gone offline, and notices about the ferry now come from Murray River Council. We read the shire's Speewa page through an archived copy from June 2019, which is why its figures carry that date.
New South Wales. Transport for NSW lists and maintains it, and the 2023 maintenance closure was carried out by Transport for NSW. A 2019 council page said Victoria shared the funding, but no current source confirms that split.
We do not know, and we have not guessed. 12:00pm normally means midday, but the same page lists breaks at 12:40pm and 6:30pm every day. Until the state clarifies, treat Friday and Saturday afternoons as uncertain.
Three, according to Transport for NSW: 10:00am to 10.20am, 12:40pm to 1:00pm and 6:30pm to 7:00pm.
Official sources differ. The NSW visitor listing says the ferry first operated in 1904; the former Wakool Shire said about 1914. The shire added that a ferry dating from 1888, first used at Tooleybuc, was moved to Speewa in 1928.
The National Trust classified it and added it to its register in December 1986, according to the Wakool Shire. The council also listed it as a local heritage item.
In 2023, when the ferry closed for two months, Murray River Council said the detour via the Swan Hill Bridge or the Nyah Bridge added up to 30 minutes.
No. The NSW visitor listing names one other, the Wymah ferry east of Albury. Those two are the only Murray crossings on the state's vehicle ferries page.