MOAMA Moama is the next Murray River town visited after Picola and Barmah. Moama is the poor cousin to Echuca on the Victorian side of the Murray River. Pre the pokies reform and the liquor trading laws, Moama was an NSW boom community. Moama and Echuca now share common community objectives. That said both communities are fiercely loyal to their stateism; hence the separate synopsis. The 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 care take Jeffries' station about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the junction of the Campaspe River and the Murray River. Moama retains some impressive historical buildings (circa 1880's), namely the Moama Court House on Francis Street, the former New South Wales Police Force Sergeants official residence in Chanter Street, and the former Bank of New South Wales adjacent to the railway lines on Meninya Street. The Moama Hotel is a survivor of the earlier boom years. The Moama War Memorial is at the southern approaches of Moama. The Moama Churches are of the modern era. For the traveler Moama can be a stopover consideration. Heritage diary