Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Movement along rivers played a similar role in the expansion of Russian power and influ-
ence over Siberia and the penetration of Africa by Western European powers. The import-
ance of rivers as pathways for colonial exploration is not simply a subject of historical in-
terest. During the colonization of the Americas in the mid-18th century and the imperial ex-
pansion into Africa and Asia in the late 19th century, rivers were commonly used as bound-
aries because they were the first, and frequently the only, features mapped by European
explorers. The diplomats in Europe who negotiated the allocation of colonial territories
claimed by rival powers knew little of the places they were carving up. Often, their limited
knowledge was based solely on maps that showed few details, rivers being the only distinct
physical features marked. Today, many international river boundaries remain as legacies of
those historical decisions based on poor geographical knowledge because states have been
reluctant to alter their territorial boundaries from original delimitation agreements.
Australia's Murray River
The Murray River in the southeast of Australia is of immense cultural, economic, and en-
vironmental importance to the continent. Its significance becomes greater still if its two
largest tributaries, the Murrumbidgee and Darling Rivers, are included. Altogether, the
Murray-Darling Basin drains about 14% of Australia's total land area. Numerous Aborigin-
al peoples relied on the abundance of the river for thousands of years before the arrival of
Europeans, hunting and trading along the Murray in canoes cut and shaped from the bark
of gum trees growing on the river's edge. Rock art, archaeological and burial sites remain
as evidence of these early inhabitants. Their diet from the river was varied, including fish,
crayfish, mussels, frogs, turtles, and waterfowl and their eggs.
It was not until the 1820s that European explorers first saw the river. Captain Charles Sturt
navigated down the Murrumbidgee, followed the Murray to discover the Darling conflu-
ence, and continued downriver to the mouth of the great river. Publication in London of
Sturt's account of his river exploration led indirectly to the establishment of the colony of
South Australia. Early European settlers began to penetrate the continent's interior by fol-
lowing the Murray and small settlements and sheep farms started to spring up along its
banks. One of the most memorable symbols of the European history of the Murray River is
the paddle-steamer, numbers of which ferried wool, wheat, and other goods up and down
the river system, helping to open up the Murray-Darling Basin. Irrigated agriculture began
in 1887, accelerating settlement and exploitation of the river's water supplies.
