Our water quality monitoring program has shown Moonee Creek to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.
Moonee Creek estuary flows into the sea north of Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales north coast.
It is a barrier river estuary with an entrance predominantly open to the sea, but it is untrained and therefore often constricts tidal flow. Sugar Mill Creek is a tributary of the lower estuary and flows through one of the larger protected areas on this section of coastline.
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 Moonee 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 good with:
Coffs Harbour City Council in collaboration with the University of New England’s EcoHealth program have carried out detailed ecosystem health monitoring in Moonee 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 Moonee Creek since 2009. 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: Barrier river
| Entrance location |
Latitude (ºS) | –30.21 |
|---|---|---|
| Longitude (ºE) | 153.16 | |
| Catchment area (km2) | 41.1 |
|
| Estuary area (km2) | 0.4 | |
| Estuary volume (ML) | 414.3 | |
| Average depth (m) | 1.5 |
|
Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.
The catchment of Moonee Creek is highly disturbed. About 40% of land use has changed from forest to urban and rural residential/grazing areas. The lower estuary flows through Moonee Beach Nature Reserve, which remains forested. The inland section of the catchment which is managed by Forestry Corporation is also forested.
Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.
Moonee Creek is managed by Coffs Harbour City Council and Solitary Islands Marine Park. More information about this estuary, including an estuary management plan, can be found on the council’s Moonee Creek estuary webpage.
Threatened species, such as the southern myotis, are found within the Moonee Creek catchment. This native bat is also known as the large-footed myotis because it has disproportionately large feet.
Find out more about the biodiversity in our estuaries.