Darling River

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Overview

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The dark treacle waters of the Darling River flow some 2,739 km from the tip of northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth near the border of Victoria.

The Murray-Darling Basin covers 1,061,469 square kilometres or approximately 14% of the total area of Australia! Officials place the township of Brewarrina as the start (or finish) of the Darling and the pretty township of Wentworth as the end. The whole Murray-Darling river system is said to be one of largest in the world. Although the flow is extraordinarily irregular (the river dried up forty-five times between 1885 and 1960) and has a high salt content.

Over 2 million people live in the Basin region. The capital Canberra, is located in the Basin along with many of Australia's major inland urban centres including Toowoomba, Bendigo, Albury Wodonga, Tamworth, Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Queanbeyan and Shepparton.

The 19th century saw the Darling as a major transportation route, shallow paddle steamers trundled wares and produce from busy river ports to the South Australian railheads at Morgan and Murray Bridge. These days the trade has dried up but at certain towns and ports old paddle steamers can still be seen and tourists are transported back to the good old days.

Further Information

The Darling River encompasses towns such as Bourke, Brewarrina, Wilcannia, Menidee, Tilpa, Louth and Mourquong

Features

The Murray-Darling Basin has at least 35 endangered species of birds, 16 species of endangered mammals and at least 35 different native fish species. The Basin also has a staggering 30,000 wetlands.

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