The is a major river in the state of
New South Wales ,
Australia . The word ''Murrumbidgee'' means "big river" in the local
Aboriginal language. The river flows for 2,172 km from its source in the Fiery Range of the
Snowy Mountains , part of the
Australian Alps near
Mount Kosciuszko , to its confluence with the
Murray River . It drains most of southern New South Wales and is the most important source of irrigation water for the
Riverina farming area.
The upper Murrumbidgee was discovered in 1823 by a party of settlers led by Mark Currie, but the extent of the river was not realised until 1829, when
Charles Sturt and his party rowed down the length of the river to the Murray, and then down the Murray to the sea. (They also rowed back up, against the current.) The Murrumbidgee basin was opened to settlement in the 1830s and soon became an important farming area.
