Murray River is located in South Australia, precisely at the South Australian border. This is Australia’s longest river. It extends to an area of 2508 km—this river is a tribute to six Australian rivers.

It is located at the eastern edge of the Southern Queensland area. Its aquatic and marine life is vibrant. 

The tributary rivers of this river are the Goulburn River, London River, Mitta River, Swampy Plains River, Campaspe River, Darling River, Murrumbidgee River, and Kiewa River.

Murray and Darling rivers form a Murray-Darling basin. This basin covers approximately one-seventh of the area of Australia. Murray River forms a border between Victoria and New South Wales.

1. General Introduction 

The Murray River originates from the Australian Alps. The route is from the western side of the highest mountain in Australia. From here, the Murray River flows towards the northwest meanders, crossing Australia’s island.

This river divides New South Wales and Victoria’s New South Wales as it directly flows into South Australian basin countries. In other words, we can say that river transport began from the western side of the highest mountainside and ended at the South Australian border. Finally, it meets Lake Alexandrina.

Later, it is divided into several channels across Hindmarsh Island and Mundoo Island. Then, moving ahead, this river meets the Australian Bight.

2. History of Murray River

• Two European people first saw the Murray River. They were William Hovell and Hamilton Hume.
• Later, in 1830, Captain Charles Sturt named the Murray River in the name of the secretary of British colonies, Sir George Murray. After that, Captain Charles Sturt travelled to the mouth of the Murray River.
• Then, Captain Collet Barker explored the mouth of this river.
• In 1852, Francis Cadell researched this river to launch steamers there. He carries pleasure boats for the same.
• Later, a government zoologist researched the birds and mammals of this river. He explored the area of the Murray and Darlings rivers. He studies the upriver ports, west-flowing water, north-south running faults, and natural dams.

3. Geographical Surroundings

This river is composed and contributes 3,375 kilometres to the Darling River system, further draining itself in Lake Victoria, New South Wales. It carries very little water in other parts of the world.

Murray River dries entirely in the summer season and conditions of drought. A sandbar often forms at the same river’s mouth and stops its flow. It is promoted by the people to conserve its water during winter seasons.

Destroying aquatic plants is strictly prohibited in it. Murray short-necked turtles, dead gum trees, and famous river red gum forests are recognised worldwide and rare to find elsewhere.

Murray River’s waters are a vital source of spring floods for many people.

4. Life in Murray River

The river provides support to various vagaries. These include many species of flora and fauna, including Murray cod, silver perch, Australian smelt, golden perch, trout, Murray crayfish, Macrobrachium shrimpy, common yabbies, platypus, water rats, and many more.

The condition of this river significantly declined continuously due to the tremendous and advanced settlement of the European population. Another reason for the decline of this river is the original winter and spring floods.

Lake Alexandrina and many sub-tributaries of the Murray Rivers are significantly enriched in terms of minerals, flora, and fauna. Introducing fish species in the Murray River is straightforward due to its abundant minerals and vitamins.

5. Murray Mouth

Murray’s mouth is where this river empties itself into the ocean. The interaction between the shallow currents and continuous shifting is very unpredictable. The uses of the Murray River are as follows:

• This river is also used as a means of transport to send goods and products from one place to another in an effective way.
• This Murray River is the source of food and many products for the people from southeastern Australia, southern Queensland, inland Victoria, Swan Hill, south Wales, and New South Wales.

Due to the high flow of this river, its mouth accumulates sand and silt. The governing bodies took a few steps to overcome the accumulation of sand and mud.

6. Mythology about the Murray River

Murray River is one of the major rivers; hence, many myths are related to it regarding its origin, function, and many other parameters. According to the population of Lake Alexandrina, the Murray River was made or created by a great ancestor, Nagrundi, who respectfully persuaded the Ponde, the great Murray cod.

It is thought that the chase was created and originated in the inner part of New South Wales. The great Ngurundi pursued the fish on his raft, made up of red gums, and Nagrundi was continuously launching sharp spears at his target fish.

But the pond was the very sharp and wily pray for Nagrundi; the pond craved a weaving path, carving the Murray River’s number of tributaries.

Nagrundi was continuously behind the pond and kept changing the rafts as they were damaged due to river flow. At Kobathatang, Burundi finally got lucky and could catch his prey Pondy.

However, as the spear got stuck in the pond tail, Pondy’s launch was so quick that it drove Nagrundu to Peindjalang, near the Tailem Bend. Unfortunately, Pondy escaped from there, and this chase between Pondy and Ngrundi got a place for a very long time.

This story of hunting and pursuing a Murray cod that ultimately craved the Murray persists in several forms and is famous among people.

7. River Transport of Murray River

Let’s discuss the initiation of river transport in the Murray River in detail.

• At first, shipping in the Murray River was not possible because of the absence of the estuary.
• In the 19th century, this river supported a substantial trade for commercial using the shallow draft paddle steamers, the first trip made by two boats on the route from South Australia in the year 1853.
• Francis Cadell headed the lady Augusta, and they reached Swan Hill with another Mary Ann whom William Randell captained. They reached Moama.
• In 1855, the steamer carried gold mining products and reached Albury. The Echuca was the primary and essential turn-around point in the whole route.
• After that, the steamboat system was welcomed by pastoralists because of the shortage of transport.
• By the end of the year 1860, a dozen steamers started operating in the high water season in this river and its tributaries.
• 1864, when the railway reached Echuca, the bulk of the wool clip was transported from the river to Echuca and then finally to the south of Melbourne.

7.1 River crossings

Murray River is a big issue for land-based travelling. It acts as a barrier to travelling and trading. So, the people decided to build ports on the banks of this river and developed some ports on the sides of the river.

They also build bridges and ferries to cross the river. The construction of the first bridge was completed in 1879. It was known as Murray Bridge and later renamed Edward Crossing.

8. Water Storage and Irrigation 

The construction of pumping stations near the river promoted farming near those areas. One of the well-known irrigation areas was the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

In 1915, an agreement was signed between Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. In this agreement, they decided on the irrigation of water from the Murray River.

8.1 Reservoirs

In total, four reservoirs are made along with this river. The four reservoirs name is Lake Hume, which is located near Albury-Wodonga. These reservoirs were built in 1936.

The second reservoir is Lake Muwala, which is located at Yarrawonga. This reservoir was built in 1936. 

Murray River water is also received from the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a complex pipeline and dam system.

In addition, the new reservoir project was assigned at Chowilla Dam in South Australia, but later, this project was cancelled due to its high cost and salinity level increment.

8.2 Barrages

Several barrages are constructed near the Murray River. The main motive for constructing these barrages was to stop the seawater from entering the Murray River because this seawater makes the river water salty, which later becomes unfit for consumption and use.

The following barrages are constructed near the Murray River.

• Goolwa barrage has a length of approximately 632 meters.

• The second one is the Mundoo Channel barrage, which has a length of 800 meters.

• Boundary Creek barrage has an approximate length of 243 meters.

• The fourth one is the Ewe Island barrage, with a length of 853 meters

• Next is Tauwitchere Barrage, which is 3.6 kilometres away.

8.3 Locks

Every dam has several locks, which are made to control the flow of the water. There are sure locks present on the Murray River also. Lock 1 is near Blanchetown and was made in 1922. In total, 13 locks were proposed and completed.

Locks 1 to 11 are present downstream of Mildura. Lock fifteen is current at Euston, and lock twenty-six is at Torrumbarry. 

9. River Murray Agreement

Water is an essential part of one’s life. Hence, this mesial source is available to all; the Murray River Basin agreement was signed. According to this agreement, the Murray River water is shared in most of the parts of the southern basin.

This Murray River agreement has several elements, as follows.

• Critical human water needs- According to this, water should be available to every person.

• The demand of the system- Proper water management and less wastage through seepage and evaporation.

• Delivery of water- The MDBA is the organization responsible for water distribution.

• Aeests- It includes the construction and maintenance of locks that are present on the Murray River.

• Water sharing– It involves the sharing of water canals and reservoirs.

10. Original Murray River Channel

The original Murray River channel directly falls behind the rendered abandoned. Nowadays, it is known by the name Green Gully. On the southern side, the Goulburn River is dammed, which is used to create a man-made lake there.

In today’s scenario, this green gully is a space due to lack of water, but in olden times, this place was full of fresh and sweet water.

11. Vegetation Around

Murray River is highly rich in vegetation. It has many different herbs, shrubs, trees, plants, bushes, grasses, and creepers. You will also find many aquatic plant species here.

The Murray Darling Basin has many different varieties of plants. There are many diverse ecosystems.

This diversification of plant species helps the basin. It keeps the water clean and filtered. It also plays a significant role in decreasing the amount of salt in water and soil. It helps in reducing bank erosion. Cyclization provides nutrients to different ecosystems.

It also protects the soil from water and wind erosion. The vegetation contains riverine forests, floodplain woodlands, shrublands, grasslands, sedge lands, bushlands, and herb lands. These vegetation areas make different ecosystems, and they have diverse wildlife.

They contain plant species like yapunyah, Burgan, river Cooba, river Willow, silver wattle, golden goosefoot, old man saltbush, Dillon bush, black roly-poly, nitre goosefoot, Warrego grass, spiny mud grass, Cumbungi, spike rush, and many more.

12. Wildlife 

Murray River has vibrant marine life. You will see many different species of mammals, fish, insects, birds, reptiles, rodents, small animals, farm animals, and exotic animals. These animals live in diverse ecosystems.

If we talk about the numerical figures, then we conclude that it has 98 species of birds, 45 different species of fishes, more than ten species of lizards, 53 varieties of frogs, three species of turtles, more than 46 species of snakes, and 16 species of endangered mammals.

The native birds of this river are parrots, Australian pelicans, cockatoos, turquoise parrots, red-tailed black cockatoos, superb fairywren, and many more. 

You will also see many colourful fishes in the basin. These fishes are rainbowfish, carp, kingfishers, eel, catfish, herring, smelts, cod, and many more. You can enjoy wildlife photography here.

13. Fun Things to Do at Murray River

There are many things which you can enjoy here. Many forests, basins, rivers, grasslands, brushlands, herb lands, and woodlands exist. You can do many adventurous things to enjoy your trip.

You can go hiking, camping, walking, birdwatching, forest stay, wildlife photography, and many more. You can also enjoy waterskiing, golfing, paddle steamers, canoeing, kayaking, house boating, fishing, and swimming. You can also play various watersports here. 

You can visit various historical sites, landmarks, museums, heritage locations, national parks, galleries, romantic gateways,  gardens, national reserves, sightseeing, conservation parks, river cruises, and other natural attractions. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which mountain is the primary source of water for the Murray River?

Ans. The Australian Alps mountain ranges are the primary source of water for this river.

Why is Murray River so famous?

The Murray River is so famous because it is the longest navigable river in the world. The mouth of this river is in South Australia. It flows from three main cities: Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. It is around 2508 km long.

What are the two primary uses of the water of the Murray River?

75% of its water is used for primary production. It includes the wineries, piggeries, diaries, water used for livestock, irrigation of crops, and agricultural lands.

Does Murray River have flora and fauna?

Murray River has a wide range of flora and fauna. There are river-red gums, grasses, herbs, and river oaks. You will also see many fish species, including Murray cod, jacky winter, Australian pelican, wedge-tailed eagle, and many more animals and birds.

What are the reasons for the contamination of the Murray River?

Ans. There are various reasons behind the contamination of the Murray River. It is due to the growth of blue-green algal bloom. The water of this river currently has high salinity and turbidity.

Sometimes, water quality is degraded because of natural phenomena such as drought, flood, global warming, and high or low temperatures.

The Ultimate Source of Water

Murray River is one of the longest rivers in Australia. It flows from New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria. This river is very rich in vegetation and wildlife.

Many rivers are related to this river; a Murray Darling Basin is formed along with the Darling River. Some other rivers that are attributed to it are the Campaspe River, London River, Kiewa River, Mitta Mitta River, Darling River, Murrumbidgee River, and Swampy Plains River.

This river also has an irrigation system that helps farming, agriculture, wineries, diaries, livestock, and many more. It is the primary source of water for three cities. There are many ecosystems near the river and basin.

Now, the water quality of this river is deteriorating due to the blue-green algal bloom. It needs to be controlled. The government is taking some strict actions against it. They are also launching some schemes to prevent water deterioration.

Last Updated on March 4, 2024 by namitasoren