Moama

Moama is a town in the Riverina district of southern New South Wales, Australia, in the Murray River Council local government area. The town is directly across the Murray River from the larger town of Echuca in the neighbouring state of Victoria, to which it is connected by a bridge. At the 2011 census, Moama had a population of 5,559.HistoryMaiden's PuntThe settlement where Moama now stands was founded by James Maiden in the mid-1840s, beginning as a stopping-point for stock and cargo waiting to cross the Murray River by punt. Maiden arrived in the district in 1840; he had been hired to caretake Jeffries' station about 40km from the junction of the Campaspe River and the Murray River. He recognised a business opportunity and travelled to Seymour where he built a punt, which he then transported back to the Murray. The locality where the punt was placed on the river became known as Maiden's Punt. Maiden built a wooden public house, the Junction Inn, for which he obtained a licence in 1847.During this early period Maiden's punt operated in opposition to another punt, owned by Isaac White, which was worked from the southern bank at Campaspe Junction (now Echuca). However, it was Maiden's punt that captured most of the business.MoamaA demand for land at Maiden's Punt prompted the New South Wales government to lay out a township there, named "Moama". The name is derived from a local indigenous word meaning "burial ground". The Moama township was gazetted on 16 December 1851. The post office opened on 1 January 1855 and was known as Maiden's Punt until 1857.