Murray-Darling river
| Murray–Darling basin | |
| Drainage basin | |
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| Country | Australia |
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| States and territories |
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory |
| Rivers | Murray, Darling, Warrego, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Goulburn, Campaspe, Mitta Mitta, Loddon, and numerous others |
| Source | Great Dividing Range |
| - location | Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria |
| Mouth | Southern Ocean |
| - location | Murray Mouth, South Australia |
| - coordinates | 35°35′S 138°53′E / 35.583°S 138.883°ECoordinates: 35°35′S 138°53′E / 35.583°S 138.883°E |
| Length | 3,375 km (2,097 mi), NE-SW |
| Discharge | |
| - average | 767 m3/s (27,086 cu ft/s) |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Management | Murray–Darling Basin Authority |
 Map of the Murray–Darling basin
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Website: mdba |
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The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia. Its name is derived from its two major rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River. The basin, which drains around one-seventh of the Australian land mass, is one of the most significant agricultural areas in Australia. It spans most of the states of New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, and parts of the states of Queensland (lower third) and South Australia (southeastern corner). The basin is 3,375 kilometres (2,097 mi) in length, with the Murray River being 2,508 km (1,558 mi) long.
Most of the 1,061,469 km2 (409,835 sq mi) basin is flat, low-lying and far inland, and receives little direct rainfall. The many rivers it contains tend to be long and slow-flowing, and carry a volume of water that is large only by Australian standards.
The basin was once home to a large number of Aboriginal people whose traditional lifestyle and cultures were gradually destroyed by the arrival of Europeans. Their ways of life were no match for the strangers' hunger for land, their introduced grazing animals and crops, their appetite for raw materials and their transportation and communication technologies, not to mention their weaponry. The basin is still home to large variety of aboriginal people, but hunting in recent years has led to a significant decline in their population. Tribes such as the Maraura, whose territory lay around the Rufus River above Renmark and the Tanganekald near The Coorong who dared to attack the trespassers faced brutal and deadly retaliation.
The Murray–Darling basin is home to many native animal species. The true numbers may not be known, but a fairly confident estimate has been made of these animals and the current status of their population. Among the aboriginal fauna in the region, the study found that there were:
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Wikipedia