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Where are our Wild Rivers?
Most of our remaining wild rivers in Australia are in Northern, Western and Central Australia, where development pressures have been much less in comparison to places like the Murray-Darling Basin and the east coast.
The
‘River Disturbance Index’ of Australia
– a broad measure of wild rivers. 1 is the best condition, 10 is the worst condition. Source: Dr Janet Stein, CRES, ANU.
They are the free flowing rivers that have as yet been spared the costly and destructive impact of intensive land use and water extraction that has degraded so many of our river systems.
In 2004, Queensland’s then Premier, Peter Beattie, promised to protect 19 of Queensland’s wild rivers (as the map on our home page shows). This is just a select few of the many that deserve protection, not just in Queensland, but also the rest of Australia, particularly in Northern and Central Australia.