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The Murray River is Australia's longest river, flowing through the southeastern part of the country and serving as a crucial water source for agriculture, cities, and ecosystems across multiple states. It matters because it supports millions of people and is essential to Australia's economy, food production, and the survival of native wildlife and wetlands that depend on its water.
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The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri: Millewa, Yorta Yorta: Dhungala or Tongala) is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river, having an extent of 2,508 km (1,558 mi). Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia (the Murrumbidgee, Darling, Lachlan, Warrego and Paroo Rivers). Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray–Darling basin, which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region.
The Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains, then meanders northwest across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows into South Australia. From an east–west direction it turns south at Morgan for its final 315 km (196 mi), reaching the eastern edge of Lake Alexandrina, which fluctuates in salinity. The water then flows through several channels around Hindmarsh Island and Mundoo Island. There it is joined by lagoon water from The Coorong to the south-east before emptying into Encounter Bay (a bay of the Southern Ocean) through the Murray Mouth, 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Goolwa South. Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before the advent of large-scale river regulation, the waters at the Murray Mouth are almost invariably slow and shallow.