The town of Balranald is located where the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee River in a remote, semi-desert area.

Although it is part of New South Wales, Balranald receives Victorian television stations, with a range of Sydney and Melbourne newspapers available.

[citation needed] In 1848 George James MacDonald, the Commissioner for Crown Lands for the Lower Darling District, arrived at the site of the present-day township with a police escort.

MacDonald was a Scotsman, born at Balranald on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides; he chose the name of his birthplace for the new settlement.

He pointed out that the township's position, on the lower reaches of the Murrumbidgee River, was expected to be of strategic importance with the impending introduction of steam navigation on the Murray.

[3] The township of Balranald was gazetted on 4 April 1851 and the first land sale held on 14 January 1852, with thirty-five lots submitted to public auction.

[5] A second hotel, the Carriers' Arms, was erected at Balranald in about 1852 by the German, Philipp Comitti (but records show he didn't arrive in Australia until Mar 1854).

[6] The Victorian gold-rushes, which began as Balranald was being established, had a profound impact on the Riverina region by stimulating the development of the fat-stock market.

The development of the stock-route across the One-tree Plain to Lang's Crossing-place tended to direct attention away from Balranald to the region up-river of the Murrumbidgee-Lachlan junction.

The camels and two of the wagons crossed on the Mayall Street punt on Saturday, 15 September 1860, and the remaining waggons were brought over the next day.

To lighten the loads on the wagons in preparation for crossing the mallee country between the Murrumbidgee and the Darling, Burke left 15+1⁄2 long cwt (790 kg) of sugar, some rice, all eight demi-johns of lime juice, four bags of camel's sugar, the anvil, bellows, some iron, the blacksmith's vice, a handsaw, five axes, two rifles, several revolvers and the camel litter at Messrs Sparkes, Cramsie & Co.'s store.

The Balranald Municipal Council underwent financial difficulties, and in 1912 the NSW Government appointed a Receiver to take charge of affairs.

[10] The Sunraysia Solar Farm, rated at 255 Megawatts (DC), is being built about 18 km (11 mi) south of the town by the Australian-Chinese company Maoneng Group.

[12] Balranald has a cold semi-arid climate (BSk) with hot summers, cool winters and low rainfall throughout the year, typical of the far south-west.

[13] Being very far west in the state, Balranald is susceptible to cold fronts off the Great Australian Bight, even at the height of summer.

On 3 February 2005 a maximum of 12.5 °C (54.5 °F) was recorded; this is unusual given its very low elevation of 61 metres (200 ft) and latitude of 34.6 degrees south.

Agricultural activities in the Balranald district include sheep farming, woodcutting, charcoal production and some areas of irrigated crop-growing along the rivers.

The installation was carried out by James Cromyn under directions forwarded from England by his uncle Alexander Graham Bell, an early developer of the telephone.