River Profile: Murray River – Australia’s Longest River

The Murray is Australia’s most iconic waterway, traversing the border of NSW and Victoria as it runs south from the Snowy Mountains before forging through South Australia to the Murray Mouth in Goolwa.

Exemplifying our belief that ‘Clean waterways are a right, not a privilege’ – its meandering banks sustain plentiful wildlife, tourist hotspots and local communities. The river provides water to approximately 1.5 million households – with many riverfront towns dotting its shores, which include Cobram, Mildura, Renmark and Albury.

The fertile soil and high-water quality of the river host a wide variety of wildlife – with kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, turtles and platypus all finding key habitats along its winding path. The waterway is also home to forty-six native fish species, including the iconic Murray Cod, and varieties of local trout, gudgeon and perch.

With four major dams, sixteen storage weirs, and fifteen navigable locks, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority manages this vast network of infrastructure—a collective endeavour of the Australian Government and Basin state governments, with river-dependent industries and communities.

The Murray-Darling Basin is an extended river system that contains the Murray River, Darling River and its interconnected rivers and lakes. With an area covering over 1,000,000 square kilometres – this network of rivers, catchments, and tributaries is equivalent to 14% of Australia’s total land.

These combined waterways are an essential water source for agriculture and account for irrigation to almost half of all Australian farms.

Protecting these waterways for future generations is our role as #ZeroPollutionAmbassadors. Designing, installing and maintaining stormwater infrastructure in towns throughout the Murray River, we ensure these waterways are protected for future generations – for you, with your children and their children.