River starting to break its banks

Edward‐Wakool River System

A brief look at some of the longest anabranches of the Murray River

See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

This is a placeholder stub in participation of a future paddle down one or both of these rivers.

The Edward and Wakool Rivers are the two major anabranches of the Murray River. Taking Edward River is 435.7 km, the Murray 499.8 km, however being a smaller river with weirs, it is unlikely to be a quicker shortcut. If you paddle the even smaller Wakool River, then that is the shortest at 427.7 km, but this will likely be the longest and hardest.

Note that there are no key waypoints on the smaller Wakool River.

Key Waypoints of the Edward River

  • minus 95.6 km

    Tocumwal, NSW

    Date 21 Dec 2020
    Elevation 112 m
    Coordinates 35° 48' 47.3" S, 145° 33' 31.5" E
    Population 2,680 General Store
    BBQ area near pontoon and Town Beach Caravan Park.
  • 0 km

    Picnic Point

    Distance between locations 95.6 km Elevation 104 m
    Coordinates 35° 51' 1.1" S, 144° 59' 57.1" E
    Gauge: Offtake, BoM; WaterNSW

    The Edward River leaves the Murray just as you reach Picnic Point.

    Be careful that you do not pass this and head up Gulpa Creek. That is 1.2 km downstream and is 54.9 km, adding 20 km if it is navigable all the way up to where it rejoins Edward River.

  • 36.1 km

    Gulpa Creek

    Distance between locations 36.1 km Elevation 101 m
    Coordinates 35° 39' 29.2" S, 144° 56' 27.2" E
    Gauge: Offtake, BoM; WaterNSW

    One may want to study the correlation between the Murray River Height at the Gulpa Creek offtake and flows before committing to this option.

  • 67.2 km

    Deniliquin

    Distance between locations 31.1 km Elevation 90 m
    Coordinates 35° 31' 38.6" S, 144° 57' 56.9" E
    Population 7,900 Supermarket(s)
    Gauge: Toonalook, BoM; WaterNSW

    Deni has an IGA and Coles supermarket.

    The gauge at Toonalook is about 20 km upstream.

  • 77.6 km

    Wakool River Offtake

    Distance between locations 10.3 km Elevation 87 m
    Coordinates 35° 29' 14.3" S, 144° 53' 21.8" E
    Gauge: Offtake, BoM; WaterNSW
  • 275.9 km

    Moulamein

    Distance between locations 198.4 km Elevation 73 m
    Coordinates 35° 5' 29.8" S, 144° 1' 59.2" E
    Population 330 General Store
    Gauge: Moulamein, BoM; WaterNSW

    There is an IGA X-press in town (general store)

  • 400.8 km

    Wakool River

    Distance between locations 124.9 km Elevation 61 m
    Coordinates 34° 58' 29.6" S, 143° 29' 2.4" E
    Gauge: Edward @ Liewah, BoM; WaterNSW
    Gauge: Wakool @ Stoney Xing, BoM; WaterNSW
  • 435.7 km

    Murray River

    Distance between locations 34.9 km Elevation 59 m
    Coordinates 34° 51' 30.6" S, 143° 21' 11.5" E
  • 494.4 km

    Boundary Bend

    Distance between locations 58.7 km Elevation 56 m
    Coordinates 34° 42' 51.8" S, 143° 8' 49.9" E
    Population 130 Roadhouse

    More of a single stop gas station, roadhouse and caravan park. Easily accessible with the boat ramp.

    Mirror surface on wide river
  • 586.4 km

    Robinvale, VIC

    Distance between locations 92 km Elevation 55 m
    Coordinates 34° 34' 38.9" S, 142° 46' 1.3" E
    Population 3,310 Supermarket(s)
    Behind the boat ramp, the Arts Centre has a tap that seems potable
    Gauge: Euston Weir (downstream), MDBA
    Flood: minor: 9.1 m, major: 10.3 m

    Popular small town in the middle of nowhere that seems to attract a high number of power boats!

    Multiple tow boats line the shore and 5 guys water skiing behind a single boat

    Robinvale can get extremely busy with water skiers and wakeboarders during the summer school break and they also host a water ski race around easter.

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Supplies

There are limited supply options; the supermarkets at Deniliquin and a small general store at Moulamein.

Distances from key locations, including a couple that are on the Murray River.

Tap or hover your mouse over a table cell to show the estimated number of days it will likely take between two locations.

Distances (KM)
Cobram
Tocumwal
Picnic Point
Deniliquin
Moulamein
Murray River
Robinvale
Distances (KM)
Cobram027123190399558709Cobram
Tocumwal27096163372531682Tocumwal
Picnic Point12396067276436586Picnic Point
Deniliquin190163670209369519Deniliquin
Moulamein3993722762090160311Moulamein
Murray River5585314363691600151Murray River
Robinvale7096825865193111510Robinvale
Distances (KM)
Cobram
Tocumwal
Picnic Point
Deniliquin
Moulamein
Murray River
Robinvale
Distances (KM)

The distances were calculated by manually digitising the river path from various aerial images (ESRI, Bing, Google) in QGIS (WGS 84).

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Map

The map has markers every km starting from 0 at the confluence where the Wakool meets the Murray. Zoom in to see all of these markers. These numbers do not correlate with any existing numbering system on the river.

  • Edwards River
  • Wakool River
  • Merron Creek
  • Murray River

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Flows

Water NSW gauges are noted below:

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Climate

Site name: Deniliquin, NSW

Site number: 074258

Elevation: 94 m

Status: Open (commenced 1997)

Mean Temps

Annual: 23.6°C
Monthly low: 3.3 to 16.7°C
Monthly high: 14.4 to 33.4°C

Mean Rainfall

Annual: 375 mm
Monthly min: 0 to 7.6 mm
Monthly max: 66 to 187 mm

Seasonal Wind Roses for Deniliquin (3pm)

These wind roses are based on limited data from early 2022 onwards.

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My Personal Journeys

My rambling blogs and trip tables for trips down the three rivers.

Edward River

First trip starting from Toocumwal and finishing at Boundary Bend

Wakool River

Second trip starting from Toocumwal and finishing at Boundary Bend again, but this time on the Wakool and starting on Gulpa Creek.

Niemur River

Third and final trip starting from Stevens Weir on Collagen Creek and finishing Kyalite.

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