The Murray River has always fascinated explorers, traders and travellers. Now a new luxury riverboat is set to lure river-cruise fans as well.

Few holidays could be more languid than floating down a river, past river gums and wetlands teeming with pelicans and herons. Lazy days drift by like fat fish, and every bend supplies another pleasant panorama. And when that river is the Murray, you also get Indigenous, explorer and settler history thrown in for good measure.

Yet despite that, the Murray has long had a modest reputation as a cruise river. That may well change, however, when the river gets its first luxury river ship in 2025 with the launch of PS Australian Star, which aims to attract a new range of customers.

What’s more, operator Murray River Paddlesteamers has announced a partnership with Australian travel company APT that aims to boost the Murray’s profile both domestically and internationally.

The alliance has already resulted in one-third of all Australia Star’s first-season sailings filling. APT has bagged 16 of the Australia Star’s seven-night sailings on the Murray between June 2025 and early 2026, which it will sell as part of its Murray River tour packages.

It isn’t hard to see why cruise lovers are jumping at the chance of travelling this river in style. The Murray provides a distinctively Aussie experience. Indigenous Australians have lived along its banks for 40,000 years, leaving behind artworks and ancient burial sites.

European explorers used the river as a handy transport route to the outback. Charles Sturt named the river in 1830, and it quickly became critical to opening up inland Australia and the transportation of the wheat and wool that first made the country rich.

The $6.75-million Australian Star is under construction in Mildura and will replace the ageing, 16-guest PS Emmylou. It will be the country’s largest paddlesteamer, and the world’s only wood-fired paddlesteamer with accommodation.