Murray Mallee

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The Murray Mallee is the grain-growing and sheep-farming area of South Australia bounded to the north and west by the Murray River, to the east by the Victorian border, and extending about 50 km south of the Mallee Highway.

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 250 mm in the north to 400 mm further south.

The main towns in the mallee are Karoonda, Lameroo and Pinnaroo. Towns along the Murray are generally considered to be in the Riverland or Murraylands, rather than the Mallee.

Originally the Mallee was covered in thick mallee scrub. Large expanses (estimates are around 80%) of the mallee were cleared for agricultural development, beginning as early as the 1880's. Most of the remaining natural vegetation is in national parks such as Ngarkat Conservation Park, Billiatt Conservation Park, Scorpion Springs Conservation Park, Karte Conservation Park, Peebinga Conservation Park, Bakara Conservation Park and Lowan Conservation Park.