Wild Rivers campaign history

With clear development pressures on the Murray-Darling Basin, the first major focus of the Wild Rivers campaign was the Paroo River – the last wild river of the Basin. The postcard, lobbying and media campaign was an immediate success: The Queensland Government agreed to allow no further increases in water extraction in the Paroo in 2003.

Buoyed by the success of Paroo campaign, The Wilderness Society, alongside the Queensland Conservation Council and the Environment Defenders Office, launched an ambitious campaign for a stand-alone ‘Wild Rivers Act’ in Queensland to protect wild rivers from destructive economic activities like dam building and large-scale irrigation.

50 000 wild river postcards, 19 000 of which were personally delivered to the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, alongside intense lobbying of key decision makers, gave the campaign rapid momentum.

In 2004, in the midst of an election campaign, the Beattie Government made the announcement that was to catapult Queensland as the leader in wild river protection in Australia – if re-elected, they would introduce a stand-alone Wild Rivers Act, protecting an initial 19 wild rivers, mostly in Far North Queensland.

The Beattie Government was returned to office in 2004 and the Wild Rivers Act was passed by the Queensland Parliament unchallenged in 2005 – becoming only the third river protection legislation of its type of in the world.

Soon after, the first six wild rivers were nominated for protection: the Gregory River, Morning Inlet, Settlement Creek and Staaten River in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the rivers of Fraser and Hinchinbrook Islands. Following a lengthy, year long consultation and negotiation process, the first six wild rivers were finally officially declared in February 2007.

The Wilderness Society now turns our attention to the wild and unprotected rivers of Cape York Peninsula – one of the last great wild places on Earth. 13 whole river systems on Cape York Peninsula are now proposed for protection, as promised by Premier Beattie in 2004.

The Wilderness Society is also launching a new, equally ambitious campaign – the Northern Rivers campaign. The goal is to protect all of the free flowing rivers across Northern Australia – a global stronghold for wild rivers that form one of the last great river networks on Earth.

This campaign, as with our Queensland-focused Wild Rivers campaign, will form a core component of WildCountry - The Wilderness Society’s long term vision and strategy to revolutionise conservation planning in Australia, providing a fundamentally different ‘big picture’ understanding of how nature works, based on connections between species, habitat, climate and people.

As the threats to our wild rivers grow, we stand at a crossroads: we can protect these magnificent natural assets or condemn them to the same fate as degraded rivers like the Murray. Queensland is leading the way. With your support, we can help ensure a new approach to the protection of our remaining wild rivers across Australia.