Murray Basin

The main town centre in the Murray Basin is Cardwell which is located on the coast opposite Hinchinbrook Island and has a population of 1,176. There are several other localities including Kennedy, Bilyana and Carruchan, mainly located near the centre of the basin.

The Murray Basin varies from steep rainforest-covered mountains in the west, to a low-relief floodplain mostly developed for agriculture in the centre, with further remnant forest near the coast.

Major waterways include the Murray River, Dallachy Creek, Meunga Creek and Kennedy Creek, and numerous smaller coastal creeks drain into Hinchinbrook Channel. The sub-catchments discharge into several wetlands included in the Directory of (Nationally) Important Wetlands, and which include declared Queensland Fish Habitat Areas, seagrass meadows, and areas within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

The Murray Basin has an area of 1,115 km² and also has a high proportion of natural/minimal use lands (64%). The remaining area is comprised of 14% sugarcane, 10% forestry, 6% grazing, 1% bananas, 1% other crops, 1% urban and 4% other land uses.

The Murray Basin grade has remained ‘good’ in 2022-23 and the score decreased from 64 to 63 since the previous year.

Key results

• Water quality for the Mulgrave Basin remained ‘moderate’ with pesticide remaining ‘poor’ and declining substantially in score, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) remaining ‘poor’ and increasing substantially in score. and filterable reactive phosphorus (FRP) declining from ‘good’ to ‘moderate’.
• For the habitat and hydrology index, the flow indicator remained ‘good’ whilst the score decreased substantially from the previous year.  

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