The history

How Did Southern Quay Get Its Start?

The short version of how a card room and kitchen came to sit above the old wharf reserve on High Street.

The short version

Why Open a Card Room by the Old Wharf?

“Somebody had to do something with the old wool store” is roughly how the founder tends to explain it, when asked directly, which does not happen often.

The building had sat empty for the better part of a decade before Southern Quay opened, used mostly for storage and, briefly, as a workshop for a boat repairer who never quite got the lease sorted.

The house kept the tall windows and the loading doors facing the reserve, and built the kitchen and the card room around them rather than knocking anything through.

Southern Quay’s frontage on High Street, Echuca, lit above the old wharf reserve
Early days

Southern Quay, Before and After

The building on High Street before Southern Quay opened, windows boarded
The same room today, six tables set under the same tall windows
Cards dealt at Southern Quay on an early opening night
A table set with chips soon after the doors first opened
The quieter room at the back, added during the first year
An evening at Southern Quay a year after opening