THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA. 257 



surface waters and consequently they overflow their banks, inundating 

 the low-lying country and causing great destruction of property — some- 

 times even loss of life. The larger rivers flow inland from the coast 

 range and disembogue on the eastern shores of the Great Australian 

 Bight; while some actually discharge their waters in the iuterior of the 

 country into large shallow lakes or wide marshes. 



The Murray, with its giant tributary, the Darling, is preeminently 

 king of Australian rivers, and in point of " navigable length" it is, 

 according to the estimate of Mr. H. 0. Russell, entitled to rank "third 

 amongst the navigable rivers of the world." It is, however, only right 

 and proper to point out that this is not a fair comparison. From a 

 geographical standpoint it errs greatly on the side of exaggeration, for 

 while it may be true that the Darling River is navigable from Walgett 

 to its junction with the Murray River and thence by that stream to the 

 sea, a total length of some "2,345 miles," the assertion itself furnishes 

 no adequate estimate of the actual capacity of the channel for the pur- 

 pose of navigation. As an inland stream for navigation the Murray 

 River 1 is of considerable importance, and the immense value of its water 

 supply for irrigation canals can scarcely be overestimated, but at present 

 it can not be utilized as a great commercial highway from the sea to the 

 interior, and for this reason alone no comparison can be drawn between 

 it and many other shorter and minor streams of the world. The shallow 

 entrance to the river and the comparatively insignificant volume of 

 water that passes through the channel in dry seasons are enormous 

 obstacles which may possibly be removed at some future time when the 

 country is more closely settled and its commercial and industrial re- 

 sources more generally developed. Free and uninterrupted navigation 

 from the sea to Walgett and from the sea to Albury would exercise a 

 greater and more permanent influence upon the future prosperity of the 

 country and its potentialities than it is within the power of anyone to 

 conceive, and if that were once accomplished the Murray would rightly 

 be entitled to rank" among the first navigable streams of the globe. 

 The total drainage area of the Murray River as recently determined by 

 Mr. H. G. McKinney, M. Inst. 0. E., is 414,253 square miles, equal to 

 about a seventh of the area of the entire continent, and as large as the 

 combined areas of France and Germany. This is the twelfth largest 

 river basin of the world. Of this enormous area 234,362 square miles 

 are situated in New South Wales, 104,575 in Queensland, 50,979 in 



1 The Murray River is here referred to as the primary water course with which are 

 united the Darling, Murrurnbidgee, Lachlan, and other tributary streams, with their 

 numerous affluents, the whole constituting the Murray River system. In speaking 

 generally of the first, the others are, therefore, included unless otherwise stated. In 

 a published diagram showing the comparative lengths of the great rivers of the 

 world the Darling is indicated as the primary stream and the Murray as one of its 

 principal tributaries. This is certainly erroneous, for so long as the channel from 

 the sea to Wentworth is known as the Murray River the Darling, which unites with 

 it at the latter place, can not be otherwise described than as a tributary of it. 



SM 96 17 



