Murray River (Western Australia)

Murray River
Pinjarra Bridge over the Murray River. ca 1900–1910
Country	Australia
Basin features
Main source	Mount Keats 187 metres (614 ft)
River mouth	Peel-Harvey Estuary sea level
Physical characteristics
Length	134 kilometres (83 mi)

The Murray River is a river in the southwest of Western Australia. It played a significant part in the expansion of Aboriginal settlement in the area south of Perth after the arrival of British settlers at the Swan River Colony in 1829.

The river is one of the few major rivers close to Perth which is devoid of dams for public water supply. It includes a catchment area including a large part of the wheatbelt and south-west of the state, draining from 450 mm/year average rainfall country in the east near Pingelly, westward through the high rainfall parts of the Darling Range around Dwellingup with an average rainfall of 1,300 mm/year.

The first of the two major tributaries, the Hotham River, starts its journey near Narrogin. The other major tributary is the Williams River, which starts between Williams and Narrogin. These two tributaries are the main rivers which drain the eastern wheat-belt.

The Murray River then flows through forested high-rainfall parts of the Darling Range to emerge near Pinjarra.

Another tributary, the Dandalup River, joins the Murray a short distance downstream of Pinjarra. This section is known as the lower Murray and is navigable in small boats. The river then flows across the sand plain between the Darling Scarp and the coast to empty into the Peel Estuary near Mandurah.

The canal development of North and South Yunderup is situated several kilometres upstream from the estuary.