19. Murray and Darling River Confluence
The junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers is where the town of Wentworth began. Captain Charles Sturt arrived at the confluence 23rd January 1830, and named the Murray River after recognising the end of the Darling. James McLeod and a Mr Bates made camp there around 1840 after explorers such as Thomas Mitchell, in 1836, and overlanders, Joseph Hawdon & Charles Bonney, in 1838 opened the way by using the junction as a ‘crossing’ for cattle and sheep, to begin the “Sydney/Adelaide Highway”. Wentworth grew in strength and prosperity during the Riverboat era because of its position at the confluence of Australia’s two greatest rivers and the commencement of the grazing industry. The Murray and Darling River system is the fourth largest river catchment in the world – Wentworth is the confluence of all rivers west of the Great Dividing Range.