Restore and protect our wetlands by working together with landholders, First Nations People, community organisations, business and government.

Healthy wetland in Victoria ©MDWWG

Healthy wetland in Victoria ©MDWWG

Whiskered tern ©Chris Tzaros. Birds, Bush and Beyond.

Whiskered tern ©Chris Tzaros. Birds, Bush and Beyond.

Healthy wetland in Victoria ©MDWWG

Healthy wetland in Victoria ©MDWWG

Australian pelican © MDWWG

Australian pelican © MDWWG

Healthy wetland in NSW ©MDWWG

Healthy wetland in NSW ©MDWWG

Southern bell frog. © Helen Waudby, NSW DPIE. Save Our Species.

Southern bell frog. © Helen Waudby, NSW DPIE. Save Our Species.

Damselfly. © Jane White

Damselfly. © Jane White

Red gum wetland ©MDWWG

Red gum wetland ©MDWWG

Royal spoonbill © Jane White

Royal spoonbill © Jane White

Andruco Lagoon © Ian Mackenzie

Andruco Lagoon © Ian Mackenzie

The Murray-Darling Basin is one of the largest river systems in Australia and covers an area of over 1 million square kilometres.

The Basin spans four Australian states, including New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and parts of the Australian Capital Territory.

  • Home to 2.2 million people

  • More than 40 First Nations

  • 77,000 kilometres of rivers, including 4 of Australia’s longest

  • More than 30,000 wetlands, 16 internationally recognised

  • Contains Australia’s largest river red gum forest (66,000 hectares)

  • 9,200 irrigated agriculture businesses generating almost $9 billion gross value of irrigated agricultural production

  • Tourism industry worth $8 billion annually

  • 120 species of waterbirds and more than 50 native fish species.

The estimated 30,000 wetlands within the Murray-Darling Basin are highly diverse, ranging from vast floodplains, billabongs, and swamps to smaller wetlands and streams.

The wetlands are home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including several threatened and endangered species.

Here are some of the key benefits of our precious wetlands:

  • Culturally significant to First Nations People by providing spiritual connection, food and fibre.

  • Water filtration

  • Flood control

  • Habitat for wildlife

  • Carbon sequestration

  • Recreation and tourism.

However, the basin is also facing significant environmental challenges, including water scarcity, pollution, and habitat degradation, which threaten the long-term health of the wetlands and the sustainability of the region's economy.

Great egret ©Chris Tzaros. Birds, Bush and Beyond

 

Beauty, Rich and Rare

Wetlands along the Murray River support a huge number of birds, both local and migratory birds from the Northern Hemisphere.

A 2016 publication of the Corowa District Landcare Group, Beauty, Rich and Rare, notes that about 30 percent of the birds in the area between Albury-Wodonga and Yarrawonga-Mulwala depend on wetlands for shelter, food, resting perches and nesting sites.

The publication points out that the still surfaces of wetlands in the area hide from view ‘the action below where native fish, insects, crustaceans, turtles and amphibians make their homes, careful to avoid the attention of herons, ducks, darters and cormorants’.