In many accounts of retrievers, a breed is commonly mentioned, which is called a “Norfolk retriever.” It is described as a liver colored dog, not unlike an “Irish retriever” (Irish water spaniel) in The Encyclopedia of Sport by Berkshire and Suffolk, Hedley Peek, and Frederick George.
Hugh Dalziel in British Dogs describes the Norfolk retriever as a brown-colored dog, what we would call a rusty liver. The coat is curled, but not as close as a curly-coated retriever. The ears are described as “large and somewhat thicky covered with long culy hair.” The dogs are said to have a broad skull and a stout frame, but they were not as large as the curly coat.
Dalziel believed this dog derived from crossing English water spaniels, the Labrador/St. John’s water dog, and the odd Irish water spaniel.
The description of this dog describes the Murray River Curly quite well, although Dalziel believed that these dogs were largely of a light liver color. It is possible that the Norfolk retriever was imported to Australia, where it was outcrossed with wavy/flat-coats and other Irish water spaniels. This cross-breeding would change some of the type of the dogs, elongating the muzzle a bit.
So the Norfolk retriever could have been preserved in Australia as the Murray River curly.