Murray River Region Travel Guide

From its birthplace in the folds of the Great Dividing Range in southern New South Wales, the Mighty Murray winds 2,574 km (1,596 mi) northwest and then south before it empties into Lake Alexandrina, south of Adelaide. But it is not as mighty as it once was. Despite flooding rains in early 2011, the decade-long drought which preceded the deluge, and many more years than that of reliance on—and exploitation of— the Murray and its tributaries by irrigators, river towns and the city of Adelaide threaten the river's health and the livelihoods of the people who rely on it.