The Largest Redgum Forest in the World

The Millewa/Barmah forests are triangular in shape and lie between Echuca, Deniliquin and Tocumwal. The total area of the Millewa/Barmah forests is 65 thousand hectares. Combined these forests make up the single largest stand of river red gum anywhere in Australia or for that matter the world. Besides trees, the forests contain creeks, grassy plains, wetlands, sandridges, lunettes and lakes. Running right through the forest is the murray river. If you traveled through the forest by river the distance covered would be more than a 100 kilometers. Along the total length of the Murray river there are around 7000 wetlands. Inside the Millewa/Barmah forests the total area of wetlands would exceed 10,000 hectares. Of the nearly 800 species of birds that can be found in Australia today over 220 species have been identified in these forests.

Cadel Tilt
Some 25 thousand years ago a substantial earthquake occurred in this region. When the earthquake occurred the land moved and lifted a fault line, today known as the Cadel tilt. The Cadel tilt effectively dammed the ancient Murray River causing a large lake system to form. The river initially formed a new course to the North and West around the top of the Cadel tilt. That is the Edwards River to day. After successive flooding some eight thousand years ago the Murray broke through to the south. When the Murray broke through to the south the large lake system drained and the river Red gum forests formed. Today we are left with those river Red gum forests, creeks, grassy plains, wetlands sandridges lunettes and lakes. The remnants of the large lake system are the Barmah lakes in Victoria and the Moria lakes in New South Wales. Running right down between the two lakes is the Murray River and all that seperates river from lakes are two thin strips of land either side of the river.