Murray River,South Australia:

The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At 2,375 kilometres (1,476 mi) in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest, before turning south for its final 500 kilometres (310 mi) or so into South Australia, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina.The water of the Murray flows through several lakes that fluctuate in salinity (and were often fresh until recent decades) including Lake Alexandrina and The Coorong before emptying through the Murray Mouth into the southeastern portion of the Indian Ocean, often referenced on Australian maps as the Southern Ocean, near Goolwa. Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before the advent of large scale river regulation, the Mouth has always been comparatively small and shallow.As of 2010, the Murray River system receives 58% of its natural flow. It is perhaps Australia's most important irrigated region and is widely known as the food bowl of the nation.

The Murray River forms part of the 3,750-kilometre (2,330 mi) long combined Murray-Darling river system which drains most of inland Victoria, New South Wales, and southern Queensland. Overall the catchment area is one seventh of Australia's total land mass. The Murray carries only a small fraction of the water of comparably sized rivers in other parts of the world, and with a great annual variability of its flow. In its natural state it has even been known to dry up completely in extreme drought, although that is extremely rare, with only two or three instances of this occurring since official record keeping began.

The Murray makes up much of the border between the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. Where it does, the border is the top of the bank of the southern side of the river (i.e., none of the river itself is actually in Victoria). This boundary definition can be ambiguous as the river changes course and some of the river banks have been modified.West of the 141°E line of longitude, the river continues as the Victoria – South Australia border for 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi), this being the only stretch where a state border runs down the middle of the river. This was due to a miscalculation in the 1840s when the border was originally surveyed. Past this point, the Murray River is entirely within the state of South Australia.

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