Murrabit

Murrabit (‘Murra-bit’) is a rural village in the Torrumbarry Irrigation Area near the Murray River, 25 km north of Kerang. The name probably arose from the Marabout pastoral run (1848), a subdivision of the Reedy Lake run (1845) which extended as far south-west as Quambatook. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word meaning good.

Schools were opened in the Murrabit district in the 1880s as farm selections were taken up. Reliable irrigation water became available with the completion of the Torrumbarry Weir on the Murray River, south-east of Murrabit, in 1924. Coinciding with that, a railway line was opened form Kerang to Murrabit, and on to Stony Crossing, New South Wales, in 1924 and 1928 respectively. Murrabit became an important citrus-growing area, later adding broom growing and dairying. By the 1940s there were a progress association, golf and tennis clubs, a recreation reserve and a large citrus packing shed (1927).

Murrabit maintained its social and commercial activity, notwithstanding the closure of the railway in 1964. The school was enlarged when several smaller ones in the district were closed in 1971, and there were 45 pupils in 1998 and 29 pupils in 2014. Murrabit has football, golf and tennis clubs, an advancement association, a public hall (1912), Catholic and Uniting churches, a monthly market day and a general store.

In 2011 floodwater inundated parts of Murrabit and Murrabit West when temporary levees failed. The water called an 'inland sea' was slow to recede leaving widespread flood damage.

Its census populations have been:

At the 2011 census, farming accounted for over 36% of employment, comprising dairying 19.9%, orcharding 4.6% and other farming 11.9%.