The Murray Mallee is the grain-growing and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

-farming area of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

bounded to the north and west by the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

(in South Australia, "River Murray"), to the east by the Victorian border, and extending about 50 km south of the

Mallee Highway Mallee Highway (formerly Ouyen Highway in Victoria) is a highway in south-eastern South Australia and north-western Victoria, running mostly across the Mallee plains. It forms part of the shortest route between Adelaide and Sydney. Route Mallee ...

. The Murray Mallee area is predominantly a vast

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

of low elevation, with sandhills and gentle undulating sandy rises, interspersed by flats. The annual

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

ranges from approximately 250 mm in the north to 400 mm further south. The area was very lightly populated up until the beginning of the 20th century, with marginal pastoral runs of sheep at low stocking rates. Artesian water was discovered at moderate depth, and railways opened to make shipping of grain feasible. The first railway was the Pinnaroo line in 1906 from

Tailem Bend Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina. It is linear in layout s ...

on the main Melbourne–Adelaide railway. The success of this line led to construction further north of the Brown's Well railway line in 1913, and before that line had been completed, the government approved a number of spur lines from it. These included the Peebinga railway line into the land between the new line and the Pinnaroo line, extending the Brown's Well line north to Paringa, and spurs to Loxton and

Waikerie Waikerie ( ) is a rural town in the Riverland region of South Australia on the south bank of the Murray River. At the , Waikerie had a population of 2,684. The Sturt Highway passes to the south of the town at the top of the cliffs. There is a c ...

. Another spur, the

Moorook railway line The Moorook railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network. It ran from a junction with the Barmera line at Wanbi north to Yinkanie near Moorook opening on 7 September 1925. It was proposed to later extend the line ...

opened in 1925. All of these have now closed due to the declining use of railways for grain transport in the area. Aerial view of Murraylands landscape

The main towns in the mallee are Karoonda,

Lameroo Lameroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. It is on the Mallee Highway and Pinnaroo railway line about 40 km west of the Victorian border, or 210 km east of Adelaide. It is primarily a service town for the s ...

and Pinnaroo. Towns along the Murray are generally considered to be in the

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria downstream to Blanchetown. The major town centres are Renmark, Berri, Loxt ...

Murraylands The Murraylands is a geographical region of the Australian state of South Australia (SA); its name reflects that of the river running through it. Lying due east of South Australia's capital city, Adelaide, it extends from the eastern slopes of ...

, rather than the Mallee. Originally the Mallee was covered in thick mallee scrub. Large expanses (estimates are around 80%) of the mallee were cleared for agricultural development, beginning as early as the 1880s. Most of the remaining natural vegetation is in protected areas such as Ngarkat Conservation Park, Billiatt Conservation Park, Karte Conservation Park,

Peebinga Conservation Park Peebinga Conservation Park (formerly Peebinga National Park ) is a 34 km2 protected area lying 40 km north of the town of Pinnaroo in the Murray Mallee region of south-eastern South Australia, about 240 km east of Adelaide and 1 ...

, Bakara Conservation Park and

Lowan Conservation Park __NOTOC__ Lowan Conservation Park (formerly Lowan National Park) is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia in the locality of Bowhill about east of the state capital of Adelaide and about west of the town of Pe ...

Notes

References

External links

Murray Mallee Strategic Task Force
IBRA subregions {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub