Murray Bridge, South Australia
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| Murray Bridge South Australia |
|
 The Murray Bridge that crosses the Murray |
|
| Population: | 18,194 (2006) |
| Established: | 1924 |
| Time zone:
• Summer (DST) |
ACST (UTC+9:30) |
| Location: | 80 km from Adelaide |
| LGA: | Rural City of Murray Bridge |
| State District: | Hammond |
| Federal Division: | Barker |
Murray Bridge () is a city in South Australia about 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Adelaide and 1 hour drive north of Meningie. It services a farming area including dairy, pigs, chickens, cereal crops and vegetables (including "stay crisp lettuces"). It is where the Princes Highway crosses the Murray River on the main road and rail routes from Adelaide to Melbourne.
Murray Bridge is in the traditional lands of the Ngarrindjeri people. The first European explorer was Charles Sturt who camped here on 8 February 1830.
The first road bridge across the lower Murray was completed here in 1879 and has a 40 km/h (~25 mph) speed limit. The bridge also became a shared road and rail bridge in 1886 until the separate rail bridge was completed in 1927. The Swanport Bridge was completed 5 kilometres (3 miles) downstream in 1979, removing most through traffic from the historic bridge. The city was originally known as Mobilong, then Edwards Crossing before finally becoming Murray Bridge in 1924.
The Rural City of Murray Bridge, in the state electoral district of Hammond and the federal Division of Barker contains the city of Murray Bridge and suburbs: White Hill, Gifford Hill, Swanport, Long Flat, Riverglades, Avoca Dell, Willowbanks, SunnySide, Northern Heights, Rocky Gully, Mobilong and Monarto.
Local Schools include Murray Bridge Primary & Junior Primary, Murray Bridge South Primary, Fraser Park Primary, St Joseph's Primary, Murray Bridge High, Murray Bridge Christian College and Unity College.
[edit] Sport and recreation
In 1924 the Murray Bridge rowing team was chosen to represent Australia at the Paris Olympics. The Murray Cods as they were known won the Australian Eight Oared Championships (the King's Cup) and were invited to compete in a test race at Port Adelaide between South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. Although accustomed to rowing over 3 miles, the Murray Cods were able to defeat the other crews on the 1 mile and 420 yards (2km) course. The story of their fundraising and exploits in Paris are detailed on the Australian Rowing History website [1].
Murray Bridge is also home to the River Murray Football League, which plays Australian rules football. The league consists of the Murray Bridge based clubs of Ramblers and Imperials and the district teams of Mypolonga, Mannum, Tailem Bend, Jervois and Meningie.
In 2005 the city's golf course, Murray Bridge Golf Club, held the State's premier regional junior team event, the Brett Ogle Cup (named after the Australian Professional golfer Brett Ogle). The home team, through the heroics of leading local juniors Constantine Papaevagelou and Craig McCulloch, went undefeated and qualified for the state final, losing narrowly. The team had not previously experienced such success; junior golf in the region has since obtained a higher profile.
Murray Bridge is also the home of the Murray Bridge Racing Club.
[edit] Sister Cities
Murray Bridge has two sister cities, according to the Australian Sister Cities Association.
| The Overland (Melbourne - Adelaide) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bordertown | ↔ | Murray Bridge | ↔ | Keswick Terminal (Adelaide) |
[edit] External links
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- Street map from Street Directory, MSN Maps and Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps, WikiMapia and Terraserver.
 |
State of South Australia |
|---|---|
| Topics |
History | Government | Flag | Rail transport | Country Fire Service |
| Capital | Adelaide |
| Regions |
Adelaide Hills | Barossa Valley | Clare Valley | Eyre Peninsula | Fleurieu Peninsula | Flinders Ranges | Limestone Coast | Mid North | Nullarbor Plain | Riverland | Yorke Peninsula |
| Cities |
Adelaide | Port Augusta | Mount Gambier | Murray Bridge | Port Lincoln | Port Pirie | Whyalla |
 |
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