Up the Mighty Murray! – Episode 5: Snaking through the Riverland

 

 

Episode 5     Snaking through the Riverland

 

To Waikerie in the Riverland Football League

 

Map of the Murray River

 

To Waikerie

 

Heading upstream from Morgan, the first major settlement on the river is Waikerie. Here in the Murray-Mallee it is harsh, semi-arid country beyond the banks and floodplains of the Murray.

 

The river wetlands and lagoons between Morgan and Overland Corner teem with birdlife, with over 200 species of birds found in the area. Waikerie, meaning ”many wings” after the Giant Swift Moth ‘wei kari’, is the name given by the people of the Ngawait tribe. The moths flutter around after heavy rain and are commonly called Rain Moths.

 

Waikerie was first settled in the 1880s and was serviced by the riverboats travelling between the Darling and Goolwa with their cargoes of wool, wheat and essential supplies. Later the railway and road transport arrived, leading to the demise of the less reliable paddle steamer traffic.

 

Unemployed men and their families from Adelaide became pioneers in a communal agricultural settlement at Wakerie Station in the 1890s. While the scheme failed, later soldier settlement schemes helped transform large tracts of land around Waikerie into productive horticultural farms. Citrus fruit processing and packing enterprises provide employment and add wealth to the town.  

 

Much of the Murray-Darling Basin was once submerged under a shallow sea, which explains the natural presence of salt in the landscape. Irrigation along the River Murray in South Australia has caused rising water tables, which in turn has led to salty groundwater entering streams and natural depressions of the land. The environmental impacts of salinization on native plants and animals are devastating. To combat the problem there are nine salt interception schemes in South Australia, with two located at Waikerie. The schemes pump highly saline groundwater directly to evaporation basins away from the river. These diversions prevent half a million tonnes of salt from entering the Murray every year. Together with improved irrigation practices, the schemes benefit both downstream water users and local irrigators. Healthy river floodplain vegetation is returning, while bird life is also a beneficiary of the reduction in salt levels in the river and floodplain wetlands near Waikerie.

 

Recently Waikerie joined the burgeoning silo art community of rural Australia with art work titled “Healthy River Healthy Community”. The clifftop site of the grain silos beside the river in town provided an ideal location for the project. Artists Jimmy Dvate and Garry Duncan have featured local wildlife, including a yabby, a Regent Parrot, the Rain Moth and the endangered Murray Hardyhead in their silo art at Waikerie.

 

(Source: Waikerie Silo Art on Facebook)

 

Upstream of Waikerie, at Overland Corner, drovers with their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep once rested on the wide grassy river plains before crossing the Murray on their trek between NSW and Adelaide. In the 1850s Overland Corner also became an important timber supply point for the paddle steamers taking prospectors upriver to the NSW gold fields. 

 

The meandering ‘old man Murray’, with its eucalypt-clad billabongs and anabranches, has a beauty and grandeur that inspires artists, poets and writers in their reflections and creative storytelling. To the geographically-minded, the Murray’s wandering path is due to the fact that it is an extremely low gradient river, averaging a fall of only 3cm per kilometre over its entire length. As a consequence, it is also a very slow moving river in comparison with other long rivers of the world. 

 

A day at the footy in the Riverland League

 

 

 

The Riverland Football League originated in 1909 as the Murray Football Association with three foundation clubs – Lyrup, Renmark Town and Fairview Rovers. After World War I the competition reformed as the Upper Murray Football Association before becoming the Upper Murray Football League in 1952 (the same name as the league based around Corryong in Victoria). In 1972 the league changed its name to the Riverland Football League, with the ‘B’ grade competition being known as the Riverland Independent Football League.

 

There are six teams in the Riverland Football League (Waikerie, Barmera-Monash, Loxton, Loxton North, Berri and Renmark). The Riverland League is within the development zone of the West Adelaide Football Club.

 

From 2023 the Riverland Independent League will cease to exist. A new league, to be known as the Murray Valley Football Netball League (MVFNL), has been created. See episode 4 for further footy news from the MVFNL.

 

Can the Cobdogla Eagles soar again soon?

 

Cobdogla is a small irrigation settlement located on the River Murray between Kingston-on-Murray and Berri. The recent history of the town’s footy club is a common country football story of struggle for survival amidst demographic and social change. At the end of the 2021 season, the Cobdogla Eagles club announced it would not participate in the 2022 Riverland Independent League season, with the club planning to go into recess for 12 months.

 

The 102-year-old club broke a losing streak of over 1000 days during the 2021 season and played in the finals for the first time for nine years. Despite their on-field revival, the club’s decision to go into recess was due to a lack of volunteers. The Eagles were not alone in having troubles remaining alive, with league neighbours Lyrup folding on the eve of the 2021 season, in their case due to a lack of players.

 

Fast forward 12 months and the Eagles launched a comeback attempt for 2023. A committee was formed but the long term football future of ‘Cobby’ remains uncertain with a comeback  in 2023 out of the question. If it can eventually reappear, the obvious home for the Eagles is in the seven-club Murray Valley League amongst former opponents from the Riverland.

 

The situation facing Cobdogla is one familiar to clubs at the other end of the Murray, including Border-Walwa, Federal and most recently, Corowa-Rutherglen. The question remains unanswered, can a short period in recess help a club regroup or realign and survive? The danger of losing continuity, and with that player and supporter numbers, is one obvious peril for footy clubs who are forced to go into recess.

 

Match of the round

Waikerie v Loxton North

Saturday 13th May 2023

At Waikerie Oval

 

 

 

 

Magpies                v              Panthers

 

The spacious Waikerie Oval, like the Corowa, Tocumwal and Yarrawonga footy grounds, is situated just about as close to the Murray River as you can get. And each ground has its ‘river end’.

 

Waikerie Oval with the River Murray in the foreground

(source: Waikerie Magpies FC on Facebook)

 

The Waikerie FC, ‘the Magpies of the Murray’, have won 15 premierships in the Riverland Football League and its antecedents. Three of those flags were won in succession between 2016 and 2018. The club was formed in 1908 and was a foundation member of the Mid Murray FA in 1910. The town of Waikerie boasted a handful of football clubs at that time. The club split into two new entities briefly in the late 1920s only to reunite as the Waikerie FC in 1929. Wearing the ‘prison bar’ jumper, Waikerie are somewhat proud of their love-us-or-hate-us image.

 

In 2022 Waikerie were grand finalists, but lost to favourites Renmark by 31 points in a low scoring premiership decider.

 

A famous son of the Waikerie FC is Adelaide Crows champion and 2003 Brownlow Medallist Mark Rucciuto. We will learn more of the football riches of the Riverland League in episode 6.

 

Loxton North are a newer club in the league having formed in 1954, but have a creditable record in the Riverland competition of nine premierships including four in a row between 1997 and 2000. The Panthers’ most recent flag was won against Waikerie in 2015. In 2022 the Panthers experienced a very lean season with only one win from 15 games.

 

A current AFL footballer (Sydney Swans: 2023; Essendon: 2016-2022 ) from Loxton North is Aaron Francis.

 

The last time they met: Round 14 2022 – Waikerie 11.10 (76) d. Loxton North 9.3 (57)

 

Waikerie has started season 2023 with three solid wins, while Loxton North are hard on their heels with two wins. Competition front runners, the Magpies and the Panthers, will both be looking to gain a psychological edge as much as the two premiership points up for grabs. The Magpies have had the wood over the Panthers at home in recent years, having won all contests played at Waikerie since 2016. 

 

Magpies v Panthers at Waikerie in round 4

(source: RFL Live TV Filming Footy on YouTube)

 

The match

Weather:  21C Fine and sunny

 

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon at Waikerie for round 4 of the RFL. Both teams were inaccurate in the first half, with Waikerie registering eight behinds before raising the two flags deep into the second quarter. The gap opened by Loxton North in the first half was never in danger of being closed by the home team even though the contest was tight for much of the match. 

 

Scores

 

Waikerie 0.5 1.8 3.11 5.14 (44)

 

Loxton North 1.6 4.8 7.9 8.10 (58)

 

Goalkickers – Waikerie: Bee, Hocking, Turner, Leibitch, Dearman

Loxton North: Proud 3, Wooldridge 2, Kent, Koehne

 

Best – Waikerie: Chambers, Hocking, Hyde, Nitschke, Dixon, Burgemeister

Loxton North: Vournard, Nelson, Wooldridge, Eleftheriadis, Kent, Worsfold

 

Around the RFL grounds

 

Loxton 11.12 (78) defeated Barmera-Monash 5.10 (40) at Loxton

 

Renmark 21.13 (139 ) defeated Berri 1.6 (12) at Berri

 

Meanwhile …

 

In the Murray Valley League, the winners were:

 

Browns Well, Sedan Cambrai and Murrayville.

 

Two wins from two starts in the Murray Valley FNL sees Murrayville well placed. The Blues, as they are known, don’t have a home game until round 9 and will be hoping to rack up more wins on the road before playing four games at Murrayville towards the end of the season.

 

Further south in the River Murray League, the winners were:

 

Mypolonga, Jervois, Southern Mallee and Imperial.

The Southern Mallee Suns continue to impress in their first season in the RMFL and stand on top of the ladder after five rounds.

 

And in the Great Southern League, the winners were:

 

Encounter Bay, Victor Harbor, McLaren Districts, Mount Compass and Willunga

 

Next episode: to Loxton in the Riverland Football League

 

 

 

 

Read all episodes of ‘Up The Mighty Murray’ and Peter Clark’s previous series Here.

 

 

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