Goolwa, known as The Elbow to early settlers, is an historic river port on the Murray River near the Murray Mouth in South Australia. Goolwa is approximately 85 km (53 mi) south of Adelaide, and is joined by a bridge to Hindmarsh Island.

The Murray River is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at 2,508 km (1,558 mi) extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest rivers of Australia. Together with that of the Murray, the catchments of these rivers form the Murray–Darling basin, which covers about one-seventh the area of Australia. It is widely considered Australia's most important irrigated region.