Management and conservation of migratory fish requires an understanding of species-specific movement ecology. For the anadromous pouched lamprey (Geotria australis), details of upstream spawning migrations remain poorly understood. We used acoustic telemetry and passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags to investigate upstream spawning migrations of pouched lamprey captured near the mouth of the River Murray, Australia, across two migration seasons. The majority (90%) of acoustically tagged individuals exhibited movements into the lower River Murray, whilst 10% were detected entering local tributaries. Unfortunately, individuals tagged with acoustic transmitters suffered high rates of mortality from capture in commercial fishing nets <100 km upstream of release locations, due to the external tagging technique adopted. Of lamprey that were PIT tagged only, ~55% were detected on fishway PIT readers on the River Murray 274–878 km upstream of release locations. Migration was predominantly nocturnal, and rates of migration between detections at fishways were at times rapid (up to 47 km.d^-1), but varied among river reaches. We conclude that contemporary upstream migrations of pouched lamprey in the River Murray may be long-distance and have been supported by the recent construction of multiple fishways. The end-point of these migrations, including spawning sites, remains the subject of ongoing research.