Darkum Creek estuary is situated in the township of Mullaway on the north coast of New South Wales.
The entrance of the estuary is intermittently closed/open to the sea and is classed as a creek.
Our water quality monitoring program has shown Darkum Creek to have fair water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Darkum Creek estuary is situated in the township of Mullaway on the north coast of New South Wales.
The entrance of the estuary is intermittently closed/open to the sea and is classed as a creek.
As part of our water quality monitoring program we assess the water quality and ecosystem health of an estuary using a range of relevant indicators. We sample a subset of the estuaries located between the Queensland border and Taree every 3 years. The most recent sampling in Darkum Creek was completed over the 2021–22 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.
This report card represents 2 water quality indicators that we routinely measure: the amount of algae present and water clarity. Low levels of these 2 indicators equate with good water quality.
The report card shows the condition of the estuary was fair with:
Coffs Harbour City Council, in collaboration with the University of New England’s EcoHealth Program, have carried out detailed ecosystem health monitoring in Darkum Creek. The results of the monitoring program, including a detailed water quality report card, are available on the Coffs Harbour City Council website.
Find out more about our estuary report cards and what each grade means. Read our sampling, data analysis and reporting protocols and find out how we calculate these grades.
We have monitored water quality in the Darkum Creek since 2012. This table shows the water quality grades for this estuary over that time.
Grades for algae, water clarity and overall are represented as:
Estuary type: Creek
Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –30.1 |
---|---|---|
Longitude (ºE) | 153.2 | |
Catchment area (km2) | 6.1 | |
Estuary area (km2) | 0.1 | |
Estuary volume (ML) | 16.5 | |
Average depth (m) | 0.3 |
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
Darkum Creek drains a highly disturbed catchment .Less than a quarter of the catchment remains as forest. Most of the land use here has been modified for banana and blueberry farms and urban development. There is also a golf course which adjoins Darkum Creek.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park. Darkum Creek is managed by Coffs Harbour City Council and the Solitary Islands Marine Park.
The Darkum Creek Estuary Coastal Zone Management Plan and Estuary Management Study Darkum Creek are available on the council’s website.
Littoral rainforest in the New South Wales north coast, which is listed as an endangered ecological community, exists adjacent to Darkum Creek estuary.
Read more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.