Look at when Walker Flat has been closed and you get a calendar rather than a list: a winter morning for maintenance, two spring days to bring in a new ferry, and an entire summer lost to the 2022–23 flood. In between, the crossing works as the South Australian government runs all its Murray ferries: free, and around the clock.
Operating status read from the South Australian government's ferry table on 25 September 2026; the table carried the stamp 'Last updated: 12.40 pm, 17 September 2026' Government of South Australia – Ferry locations and operational status · 2026-09-25
Summer is the season that has cost Walker Flat most. When the River Murray rose in late 2022, South Australia's Department for Infrastructure and Transport shut this crossing at 7pm on Thursday 15 December, a day after Purnong downstream, because the water had climbed beyond the level at which the ferry could work safely. It stayed shut until 9am on Friday 24 February 2023: Christmas, New Year and almost all of January and February without a crossing here.
Outside a flood the rhythm is the one the state applies across the river. The ferry works at every hour of every day and nobody pays; the department contracts Little Ferry Services to crew it and publishes a status table for every crossing. On 25 September 2026 that table, stamped 12.40pm on 17 September, listed Walker Flat as currently operational with nothing in its closures column.
What sets Walker Flat apart is the traffic and the boat. The department's technical table credits the crossing with about 280 vehicles a day, more than three times Purnong's figure, and names the current ferry as Rosella, which carries eight car-sized vehicles and 67 people on a deck 22.8 metres long. In October 2018 Walker Flat was also where the department commissioned Boobook, the last of four new steel-hulled ferries; the same table now lists Boobook at Mannum, a reminder that the boat at any given ramp is whichever one the state has put there.
Walker Flat costs nothing to cross, whatever you drive. What the state can ask of you instead is information: its rules for ferry users allow the operator to request your name, your address and the gross vehicle mass of your vehicle, which matters on a deck with a mass limit of 42.5 tonnes for any single vehicle combination.
| Car, ute or four-wheel drive | Free |
| Caravan or trailer combination | Free |
| Truck within the 42.5-tonne limit | Free |
| Walking or cycling | Free |
No charge, as published by the South Australian government and read on 25 September 2026 Government of South Australia – River Murray ferries · 2026-09-25
Walker Flat belongs to the section of the state's table headed Below lock 1, which names Swan Reach upstream and Purnong downstream as the crossings to use instead. The two ramps are roughly 230 metres apart. When the whole river is high, though, the neighbours go too: in December 2022 the department pointed drivers not at Swan Reach or Purnong but at the Blanchetown Bridge upstream and Murray Bridge downstream, because the ferries in between were shut as well. Every other Murray crossing in the state is gathered on our South Australian ferries page.
A concrete ramp, a barrier and nothing else. Pedestrians wait at the top of the barrier until the operator waves them on; drivers wait until they are directed onto the deck. The state's technical table sets a crossing width restriction of 5 metres here, and ties it to the landings, the concrete ramps on each bank, rather than to the ferry, so it applies whichever boat is on the cable.
The opposite ramp, about 230 metres away across the water by the Commonwealth ferry terminals dataset, which records both landings as a single passenger and vehicle facility called Walker Flat Car Ferry. The road that feeds the crossing is Angas Valley Road, which the state treats as the ferry's connector and reopened alongside it after the flood.
There is a 10 km/h limit on the ramp and on the ferry. Wait until the operator directs you before moving onto the deck, apply the handbrake once you are in position, and keep clear of the operator's walkway and machinery. The state says penalties apply for ignoring these rules.
Because the ferry works all night, the state asks drivers to switch down to parking lights at night so that they do not blind the ferry operator on the deck.
Rosella's deck takes a vehicle combination up to 22.8 metres long and 5.48 metres wide between the kerbs, with the 5-metre width restriction at the landings on top of that. Emergency vehicles showing beacons or sounding sirens board first.
Slow to 4 knots within 100 metres of the crossing and hold that speed for 100 metres beyond it, never pass in front of the ferry, and stay at least 30 metres away while it is moving: the steel cables can sit close to the surface. A green flashing light means the ferry is at rest on the bank.
Vessels fitted with a horn should give a four- to six-second blast about 500 metres from the crossing. Without a horn, the rule is simply to approach with caution.
Walker Flat's own lines are 8542 1144 and 0417 273 491, which reach the crossing at any hour the ferry is working. The department's line only answers during weekday office hours.
The 2018 changeover is why load limits no longer shape a trip along this part of the river. The department's $12.8 million renewal program, begun in 2014, retired four ageing timber-hulled ferries that had carried load restrictions, and from late 2017 the fleet was free of them. All four replacements were built by Bowhill Engineering, a Mid Murray family business, working with the department's own team at the Morgan dockyard. Walker Flat had to close for two days, from 9am on 16 October to 4pm on 17 October 2018, to bring Boobook into service.
Walker Flat also came out of the flood better than some of its neighbours. It reopened to all traffic, together with its state-managed connector, Angas Valley Road, while the Morgan, Purnong and Mannum ferries were still restricted to light and emergency vehicles because councils had weight limits on the roads leading down to them. If you are towing or hauling along this stretch after a high river, who owns the approach road is the question to ask. Downstream, Purnong is the next crossing; much further down, the Lower Murray crossing at Tailem Bend is the one the wind closes.
It was when we checked on 25 September 2026: the state's status table, last updated at 12.40pm on 17 September, listed Walker Flat as currently operational with no closures or restrictions. For the day you travel, the crossing's own line is 8542 1144.
Just over ten weeks. The department closed it at 7pm on 15 December 2022 as the river rose beyond safe operating levels, and reopened it, with Angas Valley Road, to all traffic at 9am on 24 February 2023.
Rosella, numbered 879-027 on the state's technical table. Boobook, the steel-hulled ferry commissioned at Walker Flat in October 2018, is now listed at the Mannum upstream crossing.
A single vehicle combination up to 42.5 tonnes, 22.8 metres long and 5.48 metres wide between the kerbs, subject to the 5-metre width restriction at the landings. It carries eight car-sized units and 67 people at a time.
None. The South Australian government charges nobody to use its River Murray ferries, and Walker Flat is no exception. The operator may, however, ask for your name, address and gross vehicle mass.
Upstream it is the Swan Reach ferry, downstream the Purnong ferry, according to the state's table. In a flood those can be closed too; in December 2022 the working alternatives were the Blanchetown Bridge and Murray Bridge.
Slow to 4 knots within 100 metres either side of the crossing, never pass in front of the ferry and keep at least 30 metres from it while it is crossing, because the guide cables can lie near the surface. Wait for it to reach the bank if you need to.