Brisbane River Catchment

The Black Snake Creek sub-catchment covers an area of 35km² within the Ipswich LGA. The remaining 64 per cent of the lower sub-catchment area is in the Somerset LGA.

Black Snake Creek drains the northern slopes of the rolling hills which separate the Bremer and Brisbane River catchments. The creek flows north through the historical township of Marburg and enters the Brisbane River between Wivenhoe Dam and Mt Crosby Weit, which is the offtake point for two main water treatment plants in South-East Queensland.

Land use within the sub-catchment is primarily livestock grazing with the majority of the catchment in private ownership. The creek is highly modified and degraded and is characterised as a continuous channel along much of its length, due to historic channel incision.

In 2002 a large flood detention basin was constructed on Black Snake Creek upstream of Marburg to reduce the impact of flooding on the town.

Special features:

• Active and engaged community
• Located within Brisbane's drinking water catchment
• Some pockets of Brigalow ecological community (Acacia harpophylla). Brigalow is listed as endangered in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPCB) Act 1999
• Upper Black Snake Creek Improvement Plan
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Sections of the Mid Brisbane River form part of the Ipswich boundary. The Mid Brisbane River sub-catchment covers an area of 63km² within Ipswich LGA out of a total sub-catchment area of 454km² and includes Sandy Creek (Pine Mountain) and Watercress Creek.

Dominant land uses include bushland, grazing, intensive agriculture, rural residential and industry.

Recreation values of the river are high with public parks and reserves and canoeing, boating, fishing and swimming occurring in the waterway.

The flow regime within the Mid Brisbane River has been significantly altered by Wivenhoe Dam on the Brisbane River and Somerset Dam on the Stanley River tributary. Flows are regulated depending on the releases from Wivenhoe Dam and variability has been significantly modified.

Special features:

• Platypus sighting with evidence of healthy and breeding population
• Sections of the waterway are accessible to the public (eg Kholo Enviroplan Reserve)
• Waterway used for a range of recreational activities including picnics, BBQs, walking, swimming, fishing and boating
• Active community
• D'Aguilar Range Terrestrial Corridor

The Goodna Creek sub-catchment covers only 14km². The creek flows through the suburbs of Redbank Plains and Collingwood Park, before entering the Lower Brisbane River 5km downstream of the Moggill Ferry crossing.

Land use within the sub-catchment is a mixture of urban, light industrial and bushland, with significant tracts of vegetation retained near the creek within the former Redbank Rifle Range south of the Ipswich Motorway.

The upper reaches of the creek consist of sections of constructed channel and discontinuous chain of ponds. The lower reaches of the creek exist as a continuous channel with variable widths and in some sections with an undefined channel.

The Goodna Sewage Treatment Plant, at the downstream end of the catchment, discharges directly into the Brisbane River.

Special features:

• Much of the creek is accessible to the community
• Indigenous artefacts
• Important area for securing koala populations

Sections of the Lower Brisbane River form part of the Ipswich City Council northern boundary. The Lower Brisbane River is estuarine and receives flows from the Goodna, Woogaroo, Six Mile and Sandy Creek (Camira) sub-catchments.

Dominant land uses within the Lower Brisbane sub-catchment include bushland, grazing, intensive agriculture, rural residential and industry. Recreational values of the Lower Brisbane River are high with a number of public parks and reserves along the waterway and its use for canoeing and fishing.

The flow regime has been significantly altered by Wivenhoe Dam on the Brisbane River and Somerset Dam on the Stanley River tributary. During flood conditions, the Lower Brisbane River has a significant impact on Ipswich.

Special features:

• Sections of the waterway accessible by the community such as Riverside Park
• Used for walking, picnics, fishing, cycling and swimming

The upper and middle sections of the Sandy Creek (Camira) sub-catchment area cover 25km² within the Ipswich LGA. The creek flows through the suburbs of Camira and Carole Park before it flows into Wolston Creek and then the Lower Brisbane River outside of the Ipswich boundary.

Land use within the sub-catchment is a mixture of urban, light industrial (Carole Park Industrial Estate), and bushland predominately within the Greenbank Military Camp. There are also a number of council conservation and landholder partnerships across the sub-catchment.

The channel form is predominately natural, however there are some concrete channelised sections. A vegetated riparian corridor exists for the length of Sandy Creek and contains mapped palustrine wetlands in the upper sub-catchment. These have been identified as in good condition by Queensland Wetlands.

The waterway drains through a combination of residential land and council parks and reserves in the upper reaches. The waterway in the lower reaches flows through the back of industrial lots in Carole Park.

Special features:

• Registered Indigenous cultural heritage iwth the Camira Bora Ring and other artefacts located
• Previous detection of platypus

The Six Mile Creek sub-catchment covers an area of 31km². The creek flows north from the White Rock - Spring Mountain Conservation Estate through the suburbs of Redbank Plains, New Chum, Collingwood Park and Redbank to join the Brisbane River downstream of Moggill Ferry.

Land uses within the sub-catchment is mixed, with the upper reaches retaining significant tracts of bushland, old mining areas in the west and urban development in the east. The mid sub-catchment is currently experiencing rapid urban growth mostly on the eastern side of the creek. Regional business and industry and supporting buffers are planned for the western side of the corridor.

The waterway channel has experienced degradation in the middle and lower reaches as a result of riparian vegetation removal, channelisation and impoundments (voids from historic mine sites). Bed and bank instabilities exist and some informal grade control works have been undertaken.

The waterway flows through large areas of vegetation in the upper and lower sub-catchment areas, but there is little or no vegetation present in the middle reaches. The vegetation in the sub-catchment contains some mapped endangered communities.

There are many council parks and reserves along the waterway which provide access for the community. There are also a number of council conservation and landholder partnerships in the sub-catchment.

Special features:

• Previous detection of platypus
• Significant urban growth
• Many areas of the creek accessible to the community
• Threatened ecological community Box Gum Grassy Woodland is mapped within the catchment. It is listed as critically endangered in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.

The sub-catchment area of Woogaroo Creek, and its tributaries Mountain Creek and Opossum Creek, is 69km2 of which the majority is within the Ipswich LGA. The waterways flow north from the White Rock - Spring Mountain Conservation Estate through the suburbs of Springfield, Springfield Lakes, Redbank Plains and Goodna.

Woogaroo Creek and Mountain Creek both flow through bushland for more than 5km. Both systems consist of sections of waterway wtih continuous and discontinuous channel forms. Opossum Creek only flows through bushland for a short distance before entering a large online impoundment in the suburb Springfield Lakes. Opossum Creek continues as a small continuous channel downstream of the impoundment, the shape and form reflective of reduced flows due to the impoundment.

Land use within the sub-catchment is a mixture of urban and vegetated, with the upper catchment retaining significant tracts of bushland. The Springfield development area is within the Woogaroo Creek sub-catchment which includes a large town centre and urban residential land. Linear open space corridors are provided along the main waterway as part of this development and there are a large number of open water bodies within these corridors.

Large areas of the waterway corridor flow through council parks and reserves, providing the community good opportunities to access the waterway. There are also a number of council partnerships with landholders and community-driven initiatives.

Special features:

• Previous sighting of platypus
• Important area for securing urban koala populations
• Part of Flinders-Karawatha regional corridor
• Indigenous artefacts.