McCormick Centre for Environment: Ron gains an understanding of the Murray Darling Basin in the Riverland region of South Australia

Travel through the Riverland at the moment and you'll notice a remarkable change. In the distance we watched as a tinnie motored over country which was once the terrain of four wheel drives. After years and years of drought the mighty Murray is bouncing back to life.

All of us have heard a lot about the plight of the Murray and the greater Murray Darling Basin so much so that the claim and counter claim concerning Australia's most important river system becomes a little overwhelming. Well, a quick trip to the McCormick Centre for the Environment at Renmark helps the novice come to grips with the basin and its importance to Australia.

With a touch of the screen Teresa Terbogt lights up our understanding of a catchment which takes in parts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The Murray Darling Basin covers over a million square kilometres - about fourteen percent of Australia's landmass. That's 77,000 kilometres of rivers and more than 30,000 wetlands.

The recent floods in Queensland and Victoria caused untold damage and heartache at the time but there has been an environmental upside with water fanning out into the wetlands which are highlighted on this amazing piece of technology.

And to harness the agricultural output of what is really is one of the great and vital food bowls of Australia we've imposed our will on all that flows through here. Over past one hundred years 130 dams, locks and weirs have been built in the basin. That's meant enormous agricultural output but at an environmental cost. It's believed about forty percent of the Murray's flow eventually reached the sea before the river was so heavily regulated. Regulation has meant more pooling of water in the main river channel and less water in the floodplains.

The McCormick Centre for the Environment is all about showcasing what's out in the river and on the floodplains. The Centre is operated by the Australian Landscape Trust which conducts numerous field surveys throughout the basin.

Later in the day I headed out from Renmark to nearby Ral Ral Creek for a look at this famous Riverland wetland system and sure enough - the place was alive. From golden orbed spiders to land-locked roos, the place was teeming thanks to what experts term an 'overbank' river.

They don't like the term flood because that brings with it connotations of damage and destruction, instead they use the term high river because that really means water has broken out from the river channel and out over the flood plains and that's a cue for breeding and for life.

When you do First Aid and do CPR you push the blood around, push the air around get the person alive. For a river this is the same thing. We need this flow as it pushes nutrients out and brings new life. Everything starts again.

So now is the time to see the river in all its glory. To fully understand it head to the McCormick Centre for the Environment on Ral Ral Avenue at Renmark. It's open weekdays. More ?'s email info@postcards-sa.com.au

McCormick Centre for Environment
Ral Ral Ave
Renmark
Open weekdays 10am - 4pm

Published 3rd July 2011