This book is both timely and enlightening—a highly readable travelogue that reveals the country’s rich heritage and distinctive character.
—Richard Bilkey, bookseller and publisher

After reading the author’s novel “The Bush,” I decided to pick up this nonfiction work. I wanted to learn more about Australia and the regions where the story unfolds. I’ve never been to Australia myself, but after reading this book, I can vividly picture the arid landscapes of Queensland and New South Wales. Chris Hammer is a gifted writer.

Hammer spent weeks, even months, traveling through the Murray–Darling Basin. He introduces us to the people who call this harsh land home, sharing their true stories, memories, and anecdotes. He chronicles the plight of decaying towns and struggling farms, as well as the resilience and humor of those who live there.

The book offers valuable lessons about water—how we use it and how we misuse it. Without preaching, Hammer presents the diverse perspectives of communities grappling with water scarcity. Many of these insights resonate across nations.
—Goodreads review

This book explores Australia’s largest river system. It is a volume worth reading, reflecting upon, and savoring. Hammer strikes an accessible balance, blending travel writing with history, geography, politics, culture, and environmental concerns. If you approach it seeking an in-depth treatment of any single theme, you may find it somewhat wanting. Yet for most readers, Hammer’s strengths lie in his clear, straightforward prose and robust storytelling, keeping us firmly grounded while laying a solid foundation for understanding the Murray/Darling system at the dawn of the twenty-first century and its evolving challenges.

That said, Hammer’s journey took place during the severe “Millennium Drought” of 2009, a time when conditions along the river were particularly dire for local communities. Although Hammer is a committed advocate for climate action, the book avoids becoming a didactic tract on climate change. He engages with people from all walks of life, allowing conflicting viewpoints to coexist rather than succumbing to moralizing or oversimplification. By meticulously recording what he sees and hears, the reader is likely to turn inward, contemplating climate change and how we might transform our relationship with—and stewardship of—this vital, yet beleaguered, natural resource. Hammer places the issue squarely within a human frame, lending the book broad appeal and enduring relevance.

Having enjoyed the author’s novels, I found this book equally compelling. It underscores the power of setting out, of letting a journey fuel the narrative. Hammer’s work is neither as whimsical as his fictional character Bryson nor as rigidly cynical as Sartre (whose eccentricities seem effortlessly endearing), yet we are drawn deeply into the experience, feeling, in that moment, the weight of a forgotten Australia—the desolation, isolation, and drought, the emptiness, the heat, the monotony.

May more Australians follow Hammer along the vast expanse of the Murray–Darling Basin, embarking on a satisfying, approachable, insightful, yet unsettling journey. Perhaps, like me, you will end by praying for the revival of a cherished national treasure. Whether you are a climate change believer or skeptic, we must recognize that we cannot simply extract resources from our forests, rivers, and lands without bearing the profound consequences that inevitably follow.
—Goodreads review

The Murray–Darling once knew glory. Written before the current record-breaking drought, this book paints a haunting, sorrowful portrait of our waterways today. Traveling through the basin’s many towns and tributaries, we encounter the stoic faces of communities facing heartbreak and economic collapse. Communities are collapsing or on the brink of extinction; fields bake under the sun; livestock and wildlife vanish; and the brutal realities of our unforgiving climate become starkly apparent. Though glimpses of hope emerge, the inevitability of fate weighs heavily. The challenges of a drying continent and a changing climate, compounded by mismanagement and ignorance, and the competing demands of entrenched interests, have placed immense pressure on our already overburdened water systems.

For anyone interested in the controversies surrounding the Murray–Darling Basin, this is a must-read, offering deep insight into the causes and triggers of the crisis we face today.
—Goodreads review

★ The all‑new, upgraded edition of a bestselling classic! This is the signature work of Chris Hammer, Australia’s acclaimed, award‑winning bestselling author and master of journalistic nonfiction.

★ This book has garnered numerous accolades:
◎ A finalist for the Walkley Award—the highest honor in Australian journalism, representing the pinnacle of Australian news and documentary writing.
◎ A finalist for the Manning Clark House National Cultural Award, which recognizes nonfiction works that demonstrate “outstanding historical or social insight.”
◎ Winner of the ACT Book of the Year Award, which celebrates outstanding contemporary literary and nonliterary works by Australian authors.

★ First published in 2010, this book continues to captivate readers today, who embrace it as both history and prophecy—or perhaps both.

★ It tells a gripping, deeply moving tale of a nation’s lifeline river facing decline and eventual disappearance, powerfully exploring the conflicts of interest shaping the future of its ecosystem, the towns and communities along its banks, and the industries that depend on it. Journey through riverside communities, sharing their laughter and sorrow, and uncovering the real‑world impact of the river’s deterioration on residents and the nation.

Australia’s river systems are collapsing. Some rivers are dying; others have already dried up; and the country’s most vital waterway no longer reaches the sea. Gazing at the dim autumn light, I once again find myself wondering how things could have come to this…
Join award-winning author Chris Hammer on a journey through Australia’s largest river system—the Murray-Darling Basin. The Murray-Darling is Australia’s “mother river,” the nation’s longest and most extensive drainage network, irrigating roughly 40 percent of its agricultural land—and earning it the nicknames “Australia’s breadbasket” and the heart of its farming industry. Amid a severe, once-in-a-millennium drought, Chris Hammer takes us on a voyage across the Australian outback, tracing the basin’s waterways and passing through riverside communities, sharing the laughter, sorrow, and insights of the people we meet along the way.
Beneath the daily news reports and dry statistics lies the true toll of the rivers’ decline—on the lives of those who live along their banks and on the nation as a whole. This story will leave readers with a deep sense of longing for a country that may soon be gone forever.
This edition also includes a new foreword by author Chris Hammer.

Chris Hammer
Chris Hammer is a renowned Australian author of both nonfiction and fiction. His debut work, “The River,” was published in 2010 to widespread acclaim, winning the ACT Book of the Year Award and earning nominations for the Walkley Book Award and the Manning Clark House National Cultural Award. His second book, “The Shore,” followed in 2012.
Before turning to fiction, Chris spent more than thirty years as a journalist. He reported from over thirty countries across six continents for SBS Television, including as an international correspondent for SBS’s flagship current affairs program, “Dateline.” In Canberra, he served as chief political correspondent for *The Bulletin*, a senior writer and senior political reporter for *The Age*, and the online political editor at *The Sydney Morning Herald*.
Building on this solid foundation, he began exploring novel writing, launching a brilliant career as a bestselling, award-winning novelist. His works include the best-selling Martin Scarsden crime series, as well as the Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan series, which have established him as one of Australia’s most celebrated crime writers. Among them, his debut novel, “Bullying Creek” from the Martin Scarsden series—first published in 2018 and set in a remote country town where an unrelenting drought has plunged the place into eerie silence—soared to the top of the bestseller lists upon release. It went on to win the John Creasey New Blood Dagger awarded by the Crime Writers’ Association in the UK, earned multiple Australian and American award nominations, and has been translated into several foreign languages.
Hammer’s subsequent novels—“Silver” (2019), “Trust” (2020), “Treasure and Dirt” (2021), “Slant” (2022), and “Seven Men” (2023)—have also been bestsellers and shortlisted for major literary prizes. “The Valley” is his seventh novel. Notably, “Slant”—published in the UK as “Dead Man’s Creek”—was named Crime Novel of the Year 2023 by *The Sunday Times*. Meanwhile, “Bullying Creek” has been adapted into a television series that has aired worldwide, and a second season based on “Silver” is currently in production.
Hammer holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Charles Sturt University and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Australian National University. He lives in Canberra.