The Australian river system ranked 16th by length and including the Darling River is the Murray system, commonly called the Murray–Darling Basin.
The full river-system entry is often written as Murray–Darling–Culgoa–Balonne–Condamine, reflecting the chain of tributaries used to calculate its length. The Murray is the principal downstream river: it rises in the Australian Alps, flows westward, and eventually reaches the Southern Ocean through South Australia.
The Darling joins the Murray near Wentworth, New South Wales. The Murrumbidgee is another major tributary, joining the Murray farther downstream near Boundary Bend. These rivers drain a huge inland area east and south of the Great Dividing Range.
A common mix-up is confusing the Murray River’s individual length with the length of the entire system. The Murray alone is Australia’s longest named river, while the longer ranking refers to the connected system and its headwater tributaries. The Murray–Darling Basin is also one of Australia’s most important agricultural and water-management regions.