Murray Mallee
The Murray Mallee is a grain-growing and sheep-farming area in the east of the Australian state of South Australia. The name is not formally designated but is widely used to refer to an area of approximately bounded by the River Murray on its northern and western sides, the Victorian border on its eastern side, and up to about 50 kilometres south of the Mallee Highway.
The formal designated name for approximately the same region is Murraylands.
Details
The Murray Mallee area is predominantly a vast plain of low elevation, with sandhills and gentle undulating sandy rises, interspersed by flats. The annual rainfall ranges from approximately in the north to further south.Early European explorers described it as barren, desert country. The area was very lightly populated, with marginal pastoral runs of sheep at low stocking rates, until the beginning of the 20th century. Artesian water was discovered at moderate depth, and of railways were opened, mainly in the 1910s, to make shipping of grain economically feasible.
The first railway was the Pinnaroo [railway line, South Australia|Pinnaroo line] in 1906 from Tailem Bend on the main Melbourne–Adelaide railway. The success of this line led to construction in 1913 of the Barmera railway line, curtailed at that stage on the south bank of the Murray at Paringa. Before that line had been completed, the government approved a number of lines from it. These included the Peebinga railway line into the land between the new line and the Pinnaroo line, and lines to Loxton and Waikerie. Finally, the Yinkanie railway line, opened in 1925. All lines have now closed due to the declining use of railways for grain transport in the area.