Karoonda is a town in the middle of the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. The current boundaries include the former town of Lowaldie, which was the next stop on the railway line away from Adelaide.

The Murray Mallee is the grain-growing and sheep-farming area of South Australia. It is bounded to the north and west by the Murray River, called the "River Murray" in South Australia, to the east by the Victorian border, and extending about 50 km south of the Mallee Highway.