A young William Richard began to ponder on the adventurous notion of placing a cargo steamer on the Murray and, in the early 1850s when the colony of South Australia was losing most of its manpower to the gold-diggings at Ballarat and Bendigo, William Richard was dreaming of steamboats carrying produce to the diggings, and to the settlers, who otherwise had only the slowest of transport, the bullock wagon, on which to transport their produce and supplies: - WR's dream became somewhat of an obsession with him, and he eventually confided his thoughts to his father. William Beavis, however, threw cold water on the idea and told William jnr. to stick to things he understood: -Also, at about this time, William Sen., built a family flourmill at Gumeracha, it appears that the sons rented the mill from their father and ran the milling business. - In this mill, William Richard began to gather his first hand information about the intricacies of steam engines.

Finally, in 1852 and at the age of 28, William Richard decided to turn his dream into a reality: - He employed some carpenters at Gumeracha and without any prior experience, indeed he had never even seen a steamboat, he began to build the framework for a small steamer. - The hull was later carted, with great difficulty, over the ranges and across the plain to the Murray river, where it was re-assembled under his supervision and became known as the 'P S Mary Ann'.

The 'Mary Ann' measured 55ft long by 9ft wide. It was powered by a single 8hp engine and could carry 20 ton of cargo. The cylinder for the engine was obtained in Adelaide and was made by a German engineer, Mr Claus Gehlken, of Hindmarsh. The boiler was made in the shape of an iron tank, square in section, with a single furnace passing through the middle. The side, bottom & top plates were flanged and riveted together, and the end plates were bolted to the shell thus formed, sheet lead being used to make the joints. - When in use, the boiler is reported to have assumed alarming proportions and, for safety sake, a chain was wrapped around its middle, wooden wedges were then driven in between the chain and the sides in an effort to control the 'bulging': - Even with the chain in place, however, when proceeding at speed, the sides and top of the boiler were reported to swell in and out like a concertina.

William Richard, in this small vessel and with no previous experience in navigation, navigated the River Murray as far upstream as it was possible to go. -In so doing, he rightfully earned the title of 'First Steam Navigator of the River Murray'; - a title which he greatly cherished.