Located on the banks of the Murray River and an hour outside of Bendigo, this town is home to many museums, dedicated to preserving the history of the town. During the late 1800's this small town had driven itself to become Australia's largest inland port. Its position offered the shortest distance between the river and Melbourne, which meant trade across country could be transferred to Melbourne with ease via Echuca.
With the increase and construction of railways to Victoria, the decline of Echuca's inland port meant that at the beginning of the 1900's this town was thrown into a depression. However, nowadays the town is popular with tourist exploring this area of Australia. The town is home to the largest collection of paddle steamers in the world, which brings in tourism from across the world.
