Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area

It was created to control and divert the flow of local river and creek systems for the purpose of food production.

Further expansion occurred in the 1970s with the completion of the Snowy Mountains Scheme and construction of Blowering Dam on the Tumut River, which meets the Murrumbidgee near Gundagai.

[4] The system is still regarded as a major engineering achievement comprising an elaborate series of weirs, canals and holding ponds (fed by upstream rivers and dams).

Many of the towns within the area which include Leeton[5] and Griffith were purpose built[6] and designed for the project and remain as thriving communities today.

The growth of inland centres is unusual for central New South Wales which displays the uniqueness of the MIA.