Travel the Murray River from source to sea
Australia’s fabled waterway has tales to tell all along its 2500km length, from start to finish.
1 The beginning The mighty Murray begins its three-state, 2500km run to the sea as a trickle high in the Australian Alps. Its source, on the curiously named Cowombat Flat in Victoria’s Alpine National Park, can be reached only by foot. Start from Native Dog Flat (about 70km northeast of Omeo) but arrive well-equipped for alpine weather and overnight camping. It’s a 15km trek through Cobberas Wilderness to reach the source at 1430m and the nearby Victoria-NSW border cairn. Wild brumbies are common and the remnants of an RAAF Dakota that crashed in 1954 are still scattered here. On reaching the headwater most hikers grab a selfie, standing astride the fledgling Murray flow with one foot in each state.
2 Albury-Wodonga Divided by a river and united by a highway, Albury-Wodonga straddles the NSW-Victoria state border. The river was “discovered” here by explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell on their 1824 trek from Sydney. Today, with a population of about 100,000, it’s the Murray’s largest settlement. Highlights for visitors include cycling the Albury-side Wagirra Trail and visiting the Indigenous artworks on Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk. Massive Lake Hume is the place for picnics, canoeing or fishing. Across the river, Wodonga’s Gateway Island features parklands and a cultural centre that recalls pre-Federation days when the rival colonies levied taxes on each other’s goods at a customs post.
3 Echuca-Moama Another double-barrelled, river-straddling settlement, this was once the largest inland port in Australia. Echuca’s wharf stretched 1.2km along the bank although today it is just one-fifth that length. During the 1872 to 1895 heyday of paddle steamers, this was a rip-snorting hub of riverboats, sheep yards, customs posts and Irish pubs; of its 79 boozers, eight were named The Shamrock. With the arrival of railways, the river trade slumped but Echuca’s well-preserved historic quarter still has 19th-century hotels, a blacksmith and 1884-built colonial Customs House. Along with its smaller sibling Moama, on the opposite NSW bank, the town remains home to the world’s largest fleet of vintage paddle-wheelers.
4 Swan Hill A giant Murray cod, 11m long and nicknamed Arnold, looms beside Swan Hill railway station. The leftover movie prop perches as though waiting for a train to take it back to the nearby river. Swan Hill, an original Mallee township of about 11,000 residents, has a major visitor drawcard in its extensive Pioneer Settlement village. Along with an impressive array of 1850s buildings, there are authentic working tractors, farm machinery and, of course, a smithy’s forge. Rattle through town aboard a horse and carriage or cruise on the historic paddle steamer PS Pyap. As the sun goes down, a laser show, Heartbeat of the Murray, dramatises life on Australia’s longest river.
5 Murray-Murrumbidgee junction Fifty kilometres south of Robinvale, a nondescript road leads to the confluence of two remarkable rivers, the Murray and Murrumbidgee. In 1830, explorer Charles Sturt’s boat party was following the Murrumbidgee (“plentiful water”) in search of a rumoured inland sea when they reached “a broad and noble river” they named after Sir George Murray, secretary of state for the colonies. The junction, near Boundary Bend, is still a place of red gums, magpies and kookaburras but spare a thought for the explorers. Having travelled more than 1000km downriver and dispelled the myth of an inland sea, they arrived at Lake Alexandrina but were unable to reach the ocean just beyond. They had to row back against the current, making their 47-day journey one of the great epics of early colonial exploration.
6 Mildura In 1887, Canadian immigrant brothers George and William Chaffey used their knowledge of irrigation to turn Mildura’s surrounds into what would become the salad bowl of Australia, as well as its olive jar and wine cellar. Visit William Chaffey’s 1892 family mansion Rio Vista, now a museum, and then head to local legend Stefano de Pieri’s restaurant at the Grand Hotel. At nearby Lock Eleven on the river, watch how boats negotiate these “steps” in the Murray, and then board the 1912-built PS Melbourne for a paddle steamer cruise. It’s a 15km road trip to Red Cliffs to see Big Lizzie, the world’s largest tractor. This steamroller on steroids, weighing 45 tonnes and with a 70m turning circle, was built in 1914 to clear the mallee scrub.
7 Renmark South Australia’s Renmark was the second of the Chaffeys’ irrigation towns and, like Mildura, the Murray runs right through it, as does the aptly named Sturt Highway. Look for the impressive 1893 Renmark Irrigation Trust building distinguished by a large green pump from the Chaffeys’ original irrigation works. Paddleboat days are remembered here in the restored 1911 side-wheeler PS Industry, now a floating museum. Meanwhile extensive vineyards, croplands and orchards, all fed by the river, flourish around Renmark. Cellar door sales are plentiful among the many wineries. The Murray is the third longest navigable river in the world, after the Amazon and Nile, and it’s a treat to explore at water level. Rent a houseboat at Renmark or elsewhere for a leisurely cruise.
8 Morgan The great river, known as Millewa or Tongala in Indigenous languages, turns south at historic Morgan for its home run of some 300km to Lake Alexandrina and the Southern Ocean. The town is another highlight for riverboat aficionados. Its massive wharf is the second largest on the Murray, after Echuca, and a pair of 1878 pubs, the Terminus and Commercial, face each other on the main street while a poignant little morgue stands by the river, each structure a testament to the ways of life and death on the early Murray. From here, the downriver scenery becomes even more superb with horseshoe-bend cliffs that glow like honeycomb.
9Ngaut Ngaut Hamlets such as Swan Reach, Nildottie and Walker Flat are notes on a watery songline of old Murray settlements where every building tells its story, from stone cottages and general stores to tiny turn-of-the-century chapels. The archaeology at Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park, 45 minutes’ drive north of Mannum, tells a far older tale. The charcoal strata here indicate 8000 years of continual campfires, while carved on the cliff are images of estuarine dolphins that once swam this far upstream, 200km from the sea. This is the ancestral home of the Nganguraku people and place of the Black Duck Dreaming. Join a guided tour for views from a boardwalk along the majestic cliffs.
10 Mannum By now, the Murray has flowed about 2400km from its source. Just 85km from Adelaide, the little town of Mannum’s rollercoaster streets are stacked with holiday cottages. This is a hub for houseboat rentals and a port for the large modern stern-wheel cruise ship, Murray Princess. Mannum’s development took off in 1853 when the Randell brothers, the Murray’s pioneer paddleboat builders, launched their first riverboat, Mary Anne. There are still several well-restored steamers in the area such as the 1884 Mayflower and the PS Marion. In 1897, hometown inventor David Shearer developed a steam-powered contraption fuelled by mallee logs. It wasn’t a riverboat but arguably Australia’s first locally made motor car.
The Murray passes through three states. Travellers are reminded to check official government updates for potential border closures and reopenings and health alerts.
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