Morgan's ferry is free, works around the clock and carries about 440 vehicles a day across the River Murray on Coot, one of the state's twelve-car ferries. The town it serves was built for the river trade, and it is also home to the dockyard where South Australia refits its whole ferry fleet.
Operating status read from the South Australian government's ferry table on 1 October 2026; the table showed 'Last updated: 12.40 pm, 17 September 2026' Government of South Australia – Ferry locations and operational status · 2026-10-01
Morgan grew up on a bend of the River Murray that settlers knew as the North West Bend, and it was laid out with one purpose. In 1878 South Australia pushed its railway on from Kapunda to the river here, hoping to win back some of the Murray trade the colony had lost to Victoria once the line to Echuca was open. The wharf that met the trains was built in three stages between 1877 and 1912, on massive red-gum piles, and the state's 1984 heritage survey ranked it as probably the most important heritage place in Morgan, the reason the town exists at all. That same year, 1878, Captain Hugh King, known as the Grand Old Man of the Murray, moved to Morgan and made it the base of his Gem Line of paddle steamers.
The steamers went, the ferry stayed. Today the town's crossing is one of South Australia's River Murray ferries, free and working around the clock, crewed by Kingfisher Ferry Services under contract to the state's Department for Infrastructure and Transport. The boat on it is Coot, numbered 870-005 on the state's technical table: twelve car-sized units, 101 people, a 45.5-tonne limit for any one vehicle combination and a 22-metre deck. The department credits the crossing with about 440 vehicles a day, level with the upstream ferry at Mannum and more than four times the traffic at Cadell, the next crossing up the river.
On 1 October 2026 the state's status table, updated on 17 September, had Morgan working normally with no closures or restrictions. If that changes, the table names two ways round: the Cadell ferry upstream and the Blanchetown Bridge downstream.
Nobody pays to cross at Morgan, whether in a hatchback or a truck within the limit, and the ferry does not close at night. What limits you is the boat and the ramps: a 45.5-tonne ceiling per vehicle combination, a 22-metre deck and 5 metres of width at the landings.
| Car, ute or motorbike | Free |
| Caravan or trailer combination | Free |
| Truck within the 45.5-tonne limit | Free |
| Walking or cycling | Free |
No charge, as published by the South Australian government and read on 1 October 2026 Government of South Australia – River Murray ferries · 2026-10-01
Morgan belongs to the stretch the state's ferry table groups as Above lock 1, with Cadell, Waikerie and Lyrup further up the river. Upstream, the next crossing is the Cadell ferry; downstream there is no ferry before the Blanchetown Bridge, which is why the department names the bridge as Morgan's alternative. Below the lock the ferries resume at Swan Reach and continue past Walker Flat and Purnong towards the lakes.
The western ramp is on the town side of the river. Like every ramp on the state's Murray crossings, the landing infrastructure here restricts vehicle width to 5 metres, a little narrower than Coot's 5.4 metres between the deck kerbs, so the ramp rather than the boat sets the limit for wide loads.
The eastern ramp, about 175 metres away across the water, is on the North West Bend side of the river, the name the district carried before the town existed. Cadell, whose ferry is the state's upstream alternative when Morgan is shut, is the next crossing up the river.
Coot is one of the larger ferries on the river: twelve car-sized units and 101 people at a time, against eight units on the ferry at Cadell. The deck is 22 metres between the gates, and that is the maximum length of any vehicle combination it can take.
Coot has 5.4 metres between its kerbs, but the landings restrict width to 5 metres. Measure anything wide before you drive down.
When the ferries reopened after the 2022–23 flood, Morgan's was restricted to light vehicles, emergency and road-safety vehicles and school buses because the council had put weight limits on the connecting roads. After high water, ask about the roads as well as the ferry.
The ramp's numbers, 8540 2197 and 0439 510 259, reach Kingfisher Ferry Services at Morgan. The Blanchetown Bridge is the fallback if you are heading south, the Cadell ferry if you are heading upstream.
Morgan is also where the state's ferries come to be mended. The state transport department runs a dockyard at Morgan with a slipway and workshop, and every ferry on the river has to come in for a refurbishment every seven years, moved there on a rotating basis so that no crossing is left without a boat. The team there worked with the Mid Murray firm Bowhill Engineering to build the four steel-hulled ferries that replaced the old timber boats between 2014 and 2018. The 2022–23 flood left the slipway and workshop under water; by December 2024 refits had restarted while the department was still repairing the site. One ferry's 300-kilometre trip upstream to the yard is told on our Tailem Bend ferry page.
The same flood showed who controls the approaches. When the last of the department's ferries reopened in February 2023, Morgan's was one of four still limited to light vehicles, local school buses and emergency and road-safety vehicles. The boat was not the reason: the local council had imposed weight limits on the connecting roads. How long Morgan was shut, and how Cadell covered for it, is told on the Cadell ferry page. The town itself kept much of what the river trade built: the 1984 survey also lists a customs house of 1879–80 that later became the police station, and the first pumping station of the Morgan–Whyalla pipeline.
Yes, as of 1 October 2026: the South Australian government's status table, last updated on 17 September 2026, showed Morgan as currently operational, with neither a closure nor a restriction listed. To check on the day itself, ring the crossing on 8540 2197.
Nothing. None of South Australia's River Murray ferries charges a fare, at any hour, for any vehicle within the limits.
Coot, numbered 870-005, carries twelve car-sized units and 101 people, accepts vehicle combinations weighing up to 45.5 tonnes and has a 22-metre deck, 5.4 metres wide between the kerbs. The ramps allow no more than 5 metres of width.
Upstream, the state's alternative is the Cadell ferry; downstream, it is the Blanchetown Bridge. There is no ferry between Morgan and Blanchetown.
The state transport department's ferry yard at Morgan, where every River Murray ferry in the state is refurbished once every seven years. Its team also helped build the four steel-hulled ferries introduced between 2014 and 2018.
Because the railway reached it from Kapunda in 1878, letting South Australia send Upper Murray cargo straight to Adelaide instead of losing it to Victoria's railhead at Echuca. The wharf built between 1877 and 1912 was the meeting point of boats and trains.
No. When the ferries reopened in February 2023, Morgan's was restricted to light, emergency and road-safety vehicles and school buses, because the council had set weight limits on the approach roads to the river.