Darling River and Australian Great Lakes Region Settlement?

Straight forward question for my timeline. How viable is the darling river basin and the lakes in western SA for settlement and agriculture?
 
What lakes in western SA? Do you mean Lake Eyre, Lake Frome, Lake Gardiner etc? If so they are usually dry salt lakes. Or do you mean the lakes in western NSW?

I believe that back in the days of paddle steamers the Darling river was navigable in the wetter seasons as far north as Walgett in northern NSW. The Murray Darling basin is home to 2 million people these days, but its a massive area so 2 million isn't really a lot. I'd imagine that with different settlement patters it could hold many more people.
 
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