About
Captain Sturt Marina at a glance
Central Goolwa marina at 237 Liverpool Road with 60 berths for vessels up to 20 m, a 20-tonne slipway, on-site shipwright, chandlery and outboard mechanic. Amenities include night-locked security gates, cameras, toilets, showers and an undercover BBQ area, a few hundred metres from the main street and wharf precinct.
Service area: Fleurieu Peninsula - Murray Mouth
- Marina type
- boatyard with berths
- Operator
- Captain Sturt Marina
- Region
- Fleurieu Peninsula - Murray Mouth
- Water body
- Murray River
- Wet berths
- 60
- Maximum vessel
- 20 m
- Berth types
- permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- slipway
- repairs & maintenance
- chandlery
- showers & laundry
- 24/7 security
- undercover and hardstand slipping to 20 tonnes
- on-site shipwright
- outboard mechanic
- Harts Chandlery (Captain Sturt Boat Supplies) on waterfront
- night-locked gates and CCTV
- undercover BBQ area
About Captain Sturt Marina
Captain Sturt Marina sits on the Murray at 237 Liverpool Road in the middle of Goolwa, a few hundred metres from the main street and the wharf precinct of what was once the busiest river port on the entire Murray-Darling system. The name honours the explorer who rowed and sailed down the river in 1830 to prove it reached the sea at Lake Alexandrina. The marina is a working boatyard with berths rather than a lifestyle precinct: sixty berths take vessels to twenty metres, from big cruising riverboats to small pleasure craft, and a twenty-tonne slipway, shipwright and chandlery keep the place smelling of antifoul and two-stroke rather than coffee. Goolwa's boating history is dense all around it. The town was where river cargo was transferred to Australia's first public railway for the short haul to Port Elliot, it built paddle steamers and barges through the steamboat era, and the wharf precinct still berths historic craft within walking distance of the marina gates. The marina's clientele reflects that mix: Lower Murray cruisers and houseboat owners needing slipping and repairs, trailer-boat fishers, and the yachting community centred on the nearby Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club. Security is taken seriously, with gates locked at night and cameras covering the yard, and an undercover barbecue area and clean amenities give berth holders a base that feels closer to a country boatyard co-op than a commercial marina. Wooden boat owners in particular gravitate here, drawn by the shipwright skills on site and a yard culture used to working in timber as well as glass and alloy.
Marina facilities
The marina's sixty berths accommodate vessels up to twenty metres, and berthing enquiries go through the marina manager, reachable on 0410 488 779, with the office open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. The centrepiece is the twenty-tonne slipway, which offers both undercover and hardstand slipping: owners can work on their own vessels or hand jobs to the marina's skilled service providers, and the setup handles everything from minor repairs to major refits, making it a one-stop yard for Lower Murray boats. A shipwright works on site, an outboard mechanic covers engines, and the waterfront chandlery, trading as Harts Chandlery, continues a business that operated as Captain Sturt Boat Supplies for over twenty-five years before Don and Linda Hart took it over in November 2019; it stocks yacht fittings, finishes and general marine supplies, and is the Australian distributor for the Wavefront TillerClutch self-steering accessory. Amenities for berth holders include toilets and showers, an undercover barbecue area, and security via night-locked gates and camera coverage. There is no fuel wharf at the marina, so boats fuel at other Goolwa outlets or by arrangement, and there is no public pump-out listed. The yard's combination of slipway, trades and chandlery within a few hundred metres of Goolwa's shops is its practical strength, and it draws boats from well beyond the town for slipping. Berth rates are arranged directly with the manager, and long-term berthing suits owners who want their boat watched over in a gated yard rather than on an open mooring.
Local sailing knowledge
Goolwa sits in the last freshwater reach of the Murray before the barrages, and boating here splits into two regimes. Upstream, the river is lock-controlled and placid: from the marina you can cruise the Goolwa Basin, pass under the Hindmarsh Island bridge, and run the long river miles towards Tailem Bend and beyond without tidal concerns. Downstream and through the Goolwa Barrage lock lies the Coorong, shallow, tidal and weather-dependent, where lifting-keel and shallow-draught boats have the advantage and local charts or advice are worth having before venturing far. The Murray Mouth itself is a bar entrance of genuine reputation and not a casual excursion; offshore passages are treated with respect. Ashore, the wharf precinct is a working slice of river history with paddle-steamer heritage, markets and cafes, and the Cockle Train, SteamRanger's coastal run to Victor Harbor, departs from the station nearby. Provisioning is easy, with supermarkets, a bakery, pubs and marine supplies in town, all walkable from the marina. Water levels and flows on the Lower Murray are managed at the barrages, so depths in the basin are broadly stable, but low-flow years remind everyone this is a drought-prone system; the millennium drought dropped the Lower Lakes a metre below sea level and halted much local boating. Fishing around the basin produces callop and redfin, with the Coorong famous for mulloway when flows suit. The club racing fleets and the wooden boat community give the town an active year-round boating calendar, and slipping bookings at the marina are best made well ahead of the spring rush.