Map - Murray Bridge, South Australia (Murray Bridge)

Murray Bridge (Murray Bridge)
Murray Bridge (formerly Mobilong and Edwards Crossing) is a city in the Australian state of South Australia, located 78 km east-southeast of the state's capital city, Adelaide, and 77 km north of the town of Meningie. The city had an urban population of approximately 18,779 as at June 2018, making it the fifth most populous city in the state after Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Gawler and Whyalla.

The city is called Pomberuk by the traditional owners of the land, the Ngarrindjeri people. It was later known as Mobilong and later as Edwards Crossing, before being renamed as Murray Bridge in 1924, deriving its name from the then Murray River road/rail bridge crossing over the Murray River. The city is situated on the Princes Highway, the main road transport link between Adelaide and Melbourne.

The city services a farming area including dairy, pigs, chickens, cereal crops and vegetables (including "stay crisp lettuces").

Murray Bridge is in the traditional lands of the Ngarrindjeri people, who refer to Murray Bridge as Pomberuk. The first European explorer was Charles Sturt, who camped there on 8 February 1830.

The first road bridge across the lower Murray was known as The Murray Bridge and completed at Edwards's Crossing in 1879. To distinguish this bridge with the many other bridges that cross the Murray River, this bridge is known as the Murray River road bridge, Murray Bridge. The bridge also became a shared road and rail bridge in 1886 until the separate rail bridge was completed in 1925. The bridge was designed for rail track gauge though in actuality, only gauge trains ever used it.

The District Council of Mobilong was established in 1884, bringing local government to the township, then known as Mobilong, and the surrounding land within the Hundred of Mobilong. By 1923, the council had absorbed the southern two-thirds of the neighbouring Hundred of Burdett across the river, the Hundred of Ettrick further east, and part of the Hundred of Brinkley to the south. The Mobilong township by then had its own ward. The township seceded from Mobilong council in 1924, calling itself the Corporate Town of Murray Bridge, effectively renaming the township.

In 1920, there was a picture theatre in Murray Bridge known as the Lyric Theatre, leased by Dan Clifford Theatres. At that time, audiences were dwindling owing to only silent films being able to be shown, but there were plans to upgrade to enable screening of "talkies".

In 1977 the two local councils recombined as the District Council of Murray Bridge.

In 1979 the Swanport Bridge, carrying the South Eastern Freeway across the Murray River was completed 5 km downstream, removing most through traffic from the historic road and rail bridge.

In 1993 the local municipal council crossed a population threshold, enabling it to be declared a city, the Rural City of Murray Bridge. The bounded locality of Murray Bridge remained the majority population centre and seat of the city council. 
Map - Murray Bridge (Murray Bridge)
Country - Australia
Flag of Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7617930 km2, Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
Currency / Language  
ISO Currency Symbol Significant figures
AUD Australian dollar $ 2
ISO Language
EN English language
Neighbourhood - Country