Lower Balonne River System

Image: Narran Lakes during an Australian Pelican breeding event, March 2023.
Photo credit: Harro for UNSW

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About the Area

The Lower Balonne River System covers two million hectares across Queensland and NSW and is home to the Culgoa, Balonne, Condamine and Narran rivers and surrounding floodplains.

The Area has the most wetlands of any catchment in the Murray–Darling Basin, including the internationally significant and Ramsar-listed Narran Lakes (Dharriwaa).

The Condamine-Balonne catchment is on the traditional lands of the Barunggam, Bidjara, Bigambul, Dharriwaa, Euahlayi, Gomeroi/Kamilaroi, Giabel, Githabul, Gunggari, Guwamu/Kooma, Jarowair, Kambuwal, Mandandanji, Murrawarri, and Wakka Wakka people. Occupants for thousands of years, the history, culture and livelihoods of Aboriginal People are closely intertwined with the river systems.

Aerial view of Narran Lakes (Dharriwaa) wetlands in January 2023. Photo credit: Harro for UNSW

Narran Lake Nature Reserve (L-R) Dr Joanne Ocock, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Dr Kate Brandis, University of NSW, May 2024. Photo credit: Jane Howard, UNSW

The Lower Balonne provides habitat for waterbirds, native fish and many vulnerable and endangered species and vegetation communities.

At Narran Lakes, these include nationally and internationally threatened species such as the Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) and winged peppercress (Lepidium monoplocoides).

Narran Lakes supports at least 65 waterbird species, including 14 listed under international migratory agreements. The lakes are a waterbird breeding site for ibis, egrets, spoonbills and pelicans.

Permanent waterholes in the Lower Balonne’s main and distributary waterways provide critical fish habitat during low or cease-to-flow periods. Many species persist in these areas until larger flows allow them to recolonise the system.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder manages a suite of unregulated and overland flow licences in the Area. These licences provide access to river and overland flows when certain conditions are met.

An Australian pelican breeding rookery at Narran Lakes in March 2023. Photo credit: Harro for UNSW

Our Work

Learn about the key activities taking place in this Area.

Native Vegetation

Our Lower Balonne Native Vegetation studies aim to understand how environmental water contributes to maintaining, improving or influencing woodlands, lignum shrublands and non-woody wetland vegetation, and the resilience of vegetation to fire.

Waterbirds

Our Lower Balonne Waterbird studies aim to understand how water for the environment contributes to the abundance and species diversity, breeding occurrence, habitat provision and support, and breeding success for large breeding events.

Native fish

Our Lower Balonne Native Fish studies aim to understand how water for the environment contributes to population structure, abundance, diversity, recruitment and condition. Sampling will be conducted annually at sites with water in late summer/autumn. Twenty sampling sites have been selected from below Beardmore Dam in Queensland through into NSW above the confluence with the Barwon River. It includes sites on the Narran, Culgoa, Bokhara and Birrie rivers.

Cultural Outcomes

The Dharriwaa Elders Group and Narran Lakes Nature Reserve Joint Management Committee are the cultural advisors for the Lower Balonne region. They will support relationship-building between Aboriginal People with connection to Country and project staff. In working together, we will support the protection of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty rights as appropriate for the Aboriginal People we work with.

River Flows and Connectivity

Our River Flow and Connectivity studies aim to understand how the river and wetlands work together under a range of flow scenarios with different water inputs including flow regimes, hydrological connectivity, and biotic indicators (e.g. waterbirds and flood-dependent vegetation).

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Partners

Dharriwaa Elders Group

Narran Lakes Nature Reserve Joint Management Committee

Narran Lakes Nature Reserve Joint Management Committee

NSW Government

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

Griffith University

Austral Research and Consulting

Artwork credit: Wiradjuri Artist Rebecca Salcole
Acknowledgement of Country

The Flow-MER Program team acknowledges the First Nations communities of the Murray–Darling Basin and pays respect to Elders past and present.

We acknowledge First Nations people as the Traditional Owners of the land, water and sky Country across the Basin and value the expertise, wisdom and enduring connections that have informed their care for Country over millennia.

We recognise the intrinsic connection of First Nations people to Country, and we value the enduring cultural, social, environmental, spiritual, and economic connection to the rivers, wetlands, and floodplains of the Basin. We are committed to working with First Nations people across the Murray–Darling Basin to build relationships in a meaningful and genuine way to support and empower them in reaching their aspirations.

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