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The shipwreck is located low down in the bed of the Darling River and adjacent to Polia Station about 40 kilometres north of the river town Pooncarie, about 107 kilometres south of Menindee and some 100 kilometres north of Wentworth. The wreckage is orientated east-west on the southern bank of the river. The Rodney was 106 ft (32.3 metres) in length, 21 foot (6.40 metres) in beam, and depth of just over 7 feet (2.1 metres). The frames of the vessel are angle iron; the hull planking, stingers and keel timbers are River Red Gum. Access to the site is via a riverbank track seven-eight kilometres east-southeast of Polia Homestead. Even during severe drought when the river level is about 1.2m, (a depth described as 'pooling' depth, ie with little or no flow), the lower hull remains of the vessel are partly submerged. The river bank is comprised of light grey loam and the surrounding land is sparsely vegetated with River Red Gum and other Eucalypt species.
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The remains of the Rodney encapsulate much of the regional history of the Darling River and the Western Plains: pastoralism, the river trade, the water-frontage stations, the tensions with the shearer's union and the uncertainties of the Darling flow (Regional Histories of NSW, 1996:195).
The river paddle steamer Rodney (Official Number 73295) was burnt by unionist shearers in 1894 in protest at it being used as a strike breaker during an industrial dispute. The 1890s shearer's strikes marked a turning point in Australian politics and the development of a politicised labour movement. Rising costs, job losses associated with new technologies, and a country that was headed towards an economic depression were combined with a growing sense of nationalism. The 1891 strike at Barcaldine in Queensland lead to the election of the first labour representative in parliament the following year. It is also regarded and the birth of the Labor Party (Egloff,1991:63). The 1894 strike was shorter and though by some accounts less hostile was accompanied by the dramatic burning and destruction of the paddle steamer Rodney on the lower reaches of the Darling River.
On Friday 26 August 1894, Capt Dickson was in command of the Rodney carrying 45 non-union labourers upstream to work in the wool sheds at Tolarno Station (Sydney Morning Herald 28 Aug, 1894). The Rodney was also hauling a barge carrying goods and supplies for the stations enroute (Mildura Cultivator 1 Sept, 1894, Riverine Herald, 28 August 1894).
On Sunday (28 August), the steamer reached a woodpile two miles above Moorara Station. Up to 150 striking shearers commandeered the steamer and surrounds. Having moved the passengers and crew to the riverbank, bags of chaff in the fore and aft holds were torn apart, soaked in kerosene and set alight (Riverine Herald 28 Aug 1894). The Rodney was soon ablaze from end to end and let go down the river. Eventually the vessel burnt almost to the water line and was destroyed (NSW Police Gazette, 19 Sept, 1894: p291). The incident was described in the press as 'the very worst outrage that has yet been perpetuated by shearers in these colonies' (Mildura Cultivator 1 Sept, 1894). An award was offered for the capture of those involved in the destruction of the Rodney, (NSW Police Gazette, 29 Aug, 1894) but no one was ever convicted (Parsons, 1996:125).
The hull of the Rodney was reported to be "irretrievably damaged so it was broken up and the debris was drawn out of the fairway of the river" (Mildura Cultivator 2 March, 1895).
In early 1895 the steamer Nile, itself now a wreck in the Darling River at Bourke, assisted in salvaging material from the wreck. The boiler and machinery was removed and a quantity of tools and ironwork were recovered. The boiler was allegedly later taken back to Echuca and used to power machinery at the local Freezing Works (Parsons, 1967). It is not known what became of the engine.
The Rodney was built at Echuca in 1875 for Captain's Dorward and Davies (Riverine Herald 28 Aug 1894). Constructed by Thomas McDonald at his yard near 'Mackintosh Mills', the 133 ton vessel was 106 ft (32.3 metres) in length, 21 foot (6.40 metres) in beam, and depth of just over 7 feet (2.1 metres). Rodney was powered by a horizontal direct acting steam engine of 70 horsepower, built by Robinson Brothers of Melbourne (British Register of Ships, 61 of 1875: Port of Sydney; Riverine Herald, 29 May 1875).
Framed with angle iron (British Register of Ships), the hull was planked with River Red Gum (Riverine Herald, 28 August 1894). Fitted out with a single deck, cabin and upper saloon, the vessel was believed to be worth about 3,000 pounds (Riverine Herald, 28 August 1894).
At the time of the loss in 1894, the Rodney was owned by Permewan, Wright & Co and was said to be one of the most powerful steamers on the river (Lans, Smith & Smith, nd: 40). It was elsewhere described as 'one of the finest of the river boats' (Riverine Herald 28 Aug 1894).
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