Murray (redirected from Murray (disambiguation))

Murray, river, Australia

Murray, principal river of Australia, 1,609 mi (2,589 km) long, rising in the Australian Alps, SE New South Wales, and flowing westward to form the New South Wales–Victoria boundary. It then flows southwest across South Australia state through Lake Alexandrina, a lagoon, into the Indian Ocean. It receives its main tributary, the Darling River, at Wentworth. The Murray-Darling watercourse is 2,911 mi (4,685 km) long but is of little use for navigation except in the lower reaches. Used primarily for irrigation, the Murray has numerous hydroelectric plants and reservoirs, including Hume Reservoir. The Murray and the Murrumbidgee, a tributary, receive most of the diverted water from the Snowy Mts. Hydroelectric Scheme. The Murray valley contains almost all of Australia's irrigated land; vines, fruits, and vegetables are grown.

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Murray, cities, United States

Murray.

1 City (1990 pop. 14,439), seat of Calloway co., SW Ky., near the Tenn. line; inc. 1844. There is light manufacturing. Tobacco and grain are grown, livestock and poultry are raised, and there is dairying. Murray is in a popular tourist and retirement area, near state parks and a recreational area operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Murray State Univ. is there.

2 City (1990 pop. 31,282), Salt Lake co., N central Utah; inc. 1903. It is a retail center with light manufacturing. There is dairying, and cattle and sheep are raised. The county fairgrounds are in Murray.

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Murray¹

1. Sir (George) Gilbert (Aim?). 1866--1957, British classical scholar, born in Australia: noted for his verse translations of Greek dramatists, esp Euripides

2. Sir James Augustus Henry. 1837--1915, Scottish lexicographer; one of the original editors (1879--1915) of what became the Oxford English Dictionary

3. Les, full name Leslie Allan Murray. born 1938, Australian poet; his collections include The Weatherboard Cathedral (1969), The Daylight Moon (1987), and Subhuman Redneck Poems (1996).

4. Murray of Epping Forest, Baron, title of Lionel Murray, known as Len. 1922--2004, British trades union leader; general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (1973--84)

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Murray²

a river in SE Australia, rising in New South Wales and flowing northwest into SE South Australia, then south into the sea at Encounter Bay: the main river of Australia, important for irrigation and power. Length: 2590 km (1609 miles)

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Murray 

the largest river in Australia. Length, 2,570 km (3,750 km from the source of the Darling River). Drains an area of 1.16 million sq km. The river rises on the western slopes of the Snowy Mountains in the Australian Alps and empties into Lake Alexandrina, a shallow bay that has been cut off from the Indian Ocean by a man-made bar to prevent salinization.

The Murray flows largely through an arid plain, which is the most important agricultural region of Australia. The main tributaries on the right are the Murrumbidgee and the Darling. The river is fed by snow and rain, and during the spring and summer (the rainy season) the water level rises greatly. In the dry season (winter) a majority of the tributaries dry up without reaching the main river, and the Murray becomes very shallow. The average annual rate of flow is 470 cu m per sec, and the average annual discharge is 14.8 cu km. Shallow-draft vessels can travel up the river as far as Albury. The presence of the bar at the mouth prevents steamship communication with the seaports.

The waters of the river are used for irrigation. Among the reservoirs located on the Murray and its tributaries are the Hume and Lake Victoria. Hydroelectric plants built in the basin of the Murray include the Hume on the Murray River (50 megawatts) and the Burrinjuck on the Murrumbidgee River (20 megawatts). There is fishing on the river and fish breeding in the reservoirs. Major hydroengineering construction is under way in the Snowy Mountains to shift the waters of the Snowy River and its tributaries across the Australian Alps into the Murray system for irrigation and for the construction of hydroelectric plants.