Johnstone Basin

The Johnstone Basin population is 15,000 and largely concentrated within the towns of Innisfail, Malanda, Millaa Millaa and South Johnstone.

The two key tributaries of the Johnstone River include the North Johnstone and South Johnstone Rivers. The North Johnstone River Basin can loosely be divided into three sections.

The upper river is a ‘mixed land use’ area consisting of dairy, beef grazing, sugar cane, horticulture (potatoes) and the townships of Millaa Millaa and Malanda.

The middle section contains steep forested areas, much of which is in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The lower reaches are characterised by low sloping hills and coastal floodplains, which contain a majority of the agricultural areas including the larger townships of Innisfail and South Johnstone.

The Johnstone Basin has an area of 2,326 km² and has a relatively high proportion of natural/minimal use lands (55%). The remaining area contains 16% grazing, 12% sugarcane, 6% dairy (in the upper catchment), 3% bananas, 1% other crops, 2% urban and 4% other land uses.

Key results for 2024-25

The Johnstone Basin grade has remained ‘good’ in 2024-25 and the score decreased from 66 to 65.

• Water quality remained ‘good’ with the score decreasing from of 75 to 72.
• Pesticide risk remained low although the score decreased from the previous year.
• Wetland extent remained ‘very poor’. No further loss of wetland habitat was recorded since 2019.
• The flow indicator improved from ‘moderate’ to ‘good’ due to the return of a more typical rainfall pattern for the region including the timing of the wet season rainfall and flow events. Poorer scores in 2023-24 were influenced by Severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper (TC Jasper) and the early onset of the wet season and intense rainfall and flood events from mid-December.  

The diagram below shows the detailed results for each indicator by year. Click on the timeslider to see data from previous years.