Who 'owns' the Murray?: River rights and rivalries – the intervening years 1903-1913

In the years between the Royal Commission of 1902 and the signing of the River Murray Waters Agreement in 1914, meetings, conferences and correspondence between the colonies/states and Commonwealth occurred, but little advance was made on settling the question of the River Murray waters to the satisfaction of all parties. Rivalries between the states, parochialism and conflicting priorities for the use of the river came to the fore. Newspaper reports of the time show growing frustration with the seemingly endless stream of meetings with no agreement. Many South Australian reports are obviously biased to the South Australian point of view. They continued to appeal for federal control of the river, and a system of locks and weirs to maintain navigability which was seen as the only way in which South Australia would be treated fairly in the matter. Some reports are particularly unflattering to the other states and their leaders.