Kow Swamp is named for an Aboriginal word, "Ghow", from the Yorta Yorta language. It means white gypsum soil which is found in the area. Kow Swamp is now a lake used to store irrigation water. It is 15 kilometres in circumference and about 3 metres deep. It was once a low lying swamp which only filled when the Murray River was in flood or running at high levels.