History of the region
The River Murray is central to communities living and working along it, and has been for many thousands of years.
A historical timeline
Aboriginal peoples have had a strong connection with the River Murray for over 40,000 years. In South Australia the river is central to the culture and beliefs of the Traditional Owners: the Ngarrindjeri and First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee Region.
The river played a significant role in the settlement of the first Europeans, who explored the South Australian section of the River Murray in the early 1800s and settlements were established along the river shortly after the state was colonised.
In the 1850s the river was an important trade route, with paddle steamers transporting goods to settlers and miners along the length of the river, and exporting wool, wheat, hides, salt and oats.
From the mid 1800s to early 1900s, the end of the gold rush and impacts of drought made settlers refocus on agriculture and irrigation along the river, with irrigation schemes attracting more settlers. Following the Federation Drought (1892-1902), storage and distribution facilities were developed to improve productivity and protect farmers from the impacts of drought.
The first arrangement between South Australian, Victorian, New South Wales and Australian governments was the River Murray Waters Agreement in 1914. It outlined how water would be shared between the states and allowed for construction of locks and weirs to regulate the rivers for navigation and irrigation, and manage how the river works.
Although discussions to build locks and weirs to help navigation were held as early as 1863, the first lock was built in 1922.
In the 1920s and 1930s, six locks were built in South Australia. Five barrages were also built near the Murray Mouth across the channels leading from Lake Alexandrina to prevent seawater entering the lakes during periods of low flow.
River regulation (controlling flow using locks and weirs) of the River Murray since the 1920s, vegetation clearance and irrigation development on the highland then caused naturally saline groundwater beneath the floodplains to rise. As a result, the root zone of vegetation is increasingly exposed to high salinity. The frequency and duration of floods, which previously leached salt away from the plant root zone, has also reduced. The combined effect is long-term salt accumulation in the floodplain soils, groundwater and surface water.
