What is now a quiet riverbank was once a bustling transportation link for the residents of Wickham a century ago.

Before railways and highways, steamboats used to chugged up and down the river from wharf to wharf, picking up passengers and cargo, said Roadside History explorer James Upham.

"Say 1914, 1913, if we were standing here at about quarter to six in the morning, there'd be a steamboat waiting right there to run a commuter service," he said.

The Wickham Wharf that Upham is referring to is n…