Mayor column: with Cr John Harvie
Published on 24 April 2025
I hope you and your family had a relaxing Easter break and were able to catch up with friends and family members that you don’t get to see often enough. It was fantastic to see so many visitors in Echuca – Moama and communities right across ‘River Country’.
Anzac Day, our National Day of Remembrance, is upon us and Murray River Councillors will be attending services and placing wreaths at memorials, on your behalf. It is an honour to do so, and I encourage you and your family to attend the service in your community if you are able to do so.
We should never forget the courage, bravery and sacrifice of those who served and those who died so that, we, the peoples of Australia and New Zealand can continue to live in our democratic and free lands.
LEST WE FORGET
We each live in our individual communities, we know our neighbours, we know our businesses and we know our town or village from a geographic perspective.
We all live in Murray River Council local government area and may not know too much about other communities in the area. I encourage you to get out and take a trip around the MRC area and play golf at another course, fish in a different river or creek, shop in another retail area or simply relax in a park or enjoy dinner at a different pub, club or restaurant.
Some facts about our area of which you may not be aware:
Our total population is now 13,326 and comprises 50% male and 50% females with an average age of 50 years. In terms of population Moama is our largest town with just over 8,000 residents. Urban populations for other centres are, Barham 1200, Mathoura 700, Moulamein 400 and Koraleigh, Tooleybuc, Murray Downs and Wakool around 300. Our 5800 dwellings are home to, on average, 2.3 inhabitants (who’s the .3 in your family?) and our population density is a tiny 1.1 person per square kilometre.
Compare that with Sydney which has 9212 people per square kilometre, and Australia which has 4 people per square kilometre.
We are also fortunate to have rivers, creeks and wetlands across the council area with the Murray River acting as our southern border, the Edward and the Murrumbidgee Rivers as our northern border and the Niemur and Wakool rivers and numerous creeks, including the Billabong in between. We are a camping, boating and fishing paradise! Especially, at Easter.