{"id":3191,"date":"2026-05-02T03:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/3191\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T03:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T03:55:11","slug":"how-salt-water-is-restoring-life-to-parts-of-the-queensland-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/3191\/","title":{"rendered":"How salt water is restoring life to parts of the Queensland coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tide is turning in parts of coastal Queensland.<\/p>\n

Conservation groups, traditional owners and landholders are removing tidal gates and barriers that have blocked the flow of salt water into coastal wetlands for the past 50 years.<\/p>\n

Already, signs of life are returning.<\/p>\n

Loading…’Let nature do its thing’<\/p>\n

In north Mackay, Christopher Rek has spent decades raising cattle on his family’s land.<\/p>\n

Now he is letting the ocean reclaim parts of it.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Christopher Rek is happy to let nature reclaim some of his land. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)<\/p>\n

“Mackay’s getting built in and the animals are running out of space,” the 60-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“I stole from nature by using all my cows and now it’s time to give the land back and let nature do its thing.”\"A<\/p>\n

Before construction of the wetland, the area was a dried-out salt pan. (Supplied: Catchment Solutions)<\/p>\n

An environmental restoration company contacted Mr Rek to remove tidal gates that previously stopped salt water from entering his property.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

There are up to 600 tidal gates and bunds across the Mackay region. (ABC News: Bryn Wakefield)<\/p>\n

New channels and “refuge pools” were dug to retain water and support the native ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The wetland habitat has filled with life less than six months after barriers were removed. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)<\/p>\n

Catchment Solutions fisheries ecologist Matt Moore said restoring the connection between land and sea was critical for biodiversity.<\/p>\n

“The floodgates are real bad barriers,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They blocked nearly all migration [of] species that spawn down in the estuary and migrate upstream, searching out freshwater habitats to use as nursery areas.”<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Moore says the wetlands are attracting fauna. (ABC News: Yasmine Wright Gittins)<\/p>\n

Mr Moore said recent testing showed juvenile fish were exploring the new wetlands.<\/p>\n

“We set up some box traps here to monitor the fish coming in and we’ve got approximately 20 barramundis in a couple of days moving through, which is fantastic to see.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Matt Moore and Christopher Rek look for juvenile barramundi using the wetlands. (Supplied: Catchment Solutions)<\/p>\n

Installed widely across Queensland in the 1960s and 1970s, the barriers were designed to support the growing agricultural industry and the spread of hymenachne, a grass species introduced as cattle fodder.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hymenachne is listed as a weed of national significance, once promoted as a pasture grass. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

While productive, the species invades native habitats and is now listed as a weed of national significance.<\/p>\n

Restoring flow<\/p>\n

Across the Mackay region, there are an estimated 500 to 600 barriers to tidal flow, with thousands more across Queensland.<\/p>\n

As knowledge of wetland ecosystems improves, efforts to remove these barriers have gained momentum.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mangroves at the edge of Christopher Rek’s property. (ABC News: Bryn Wakefield)<\/p>\n

“It certainly has become a bigger issue as we understand a lot more around the importance of these systems,” Greening Australia associate director for water Lynise Wearne said.<\/p>\n

Beyond the immediate ecosystem benefits, Dr Wearne said soils, mangroves and other plants that thrived in the systems were important globally.<\/p>\n

\"Lynise<\/p>\n

Lynise Wearne says there are lots of benefits to having freshwater wetlands. (Supplied: Greening Australia)<\/p>\n

“We’re getting carbon sequestration by reintroducing these tidal flows back into these wetlands,” Dr Wearne said.<\/p>\n

“There’s also a lot of benefits in these freshwater wetlands, so we want to make sure any change that we make won’t actually have negative impacts either.”<\/p>\n

‘People, nature and spirit’<\/p>\n

More than 80 kilometres south, a similar restoration effort is underway in Cape Palmerston National Park.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A bund was built to block salt water flows from reaching grazing pastures in the 1960s. (Supplied: Greening Australia)<\/p>\n

For the Yuwi people, the traditional owners of the area, the work carries cultural significance.<\/p>\n

Before the park was gazetted in 1976, the landscape was altered, hymenachne planted and a 60-metre-long bund \u2014 or embankment \u2014 built to block tidal flow.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The bund has created a demarcation line between the hymenachne and the coastal wetland system. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The Yuwi Aboriginal Corporation, Greening Australia, and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service dug a 7 metre channel through the bund earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Engineering and hydrological assessments determined how large the passage through the bund needed to be. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Yuwi woman and head ranger Bronwin Tonga said the moment marked a powerful intersection of cultural knowledge and science.<\/p>\n

“Walking in both worlds with science and that cultural science \u2026 it’s been amazing,” she said.Loading…<\/p>\n

“For us, it’s about protecting important ecosystems like the mangroves and wetlands, and maintaining the balance between people, nature, and spirit.”<\/p>\n

The park borders the southernmost area of the Yuwi native title land.<\/p>\n

Aunty Deb Clark, who is also working on the project, said Yuwi elders who had not visited the area were invited to witness the efforts.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Cape Palmerston bund was removed as part of the Yuwi Blue Carbon Wetland Restoration Project. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“For them to touch feet on country, it was a very, very special and spiritual moment,” Aunty Deb said.<\/p>\n

The returning salt water has already killed off about 80 per cent of the hymenachne.<\/p>\n

The Yuwi people are considering reintroducing cultural burning practices for the ongoing maintenance of the restored area.<\/p>\n

\"Aunty<\/p>\n

Aunty Deb Clark says it was special to be working in the park. (ABC News: Liam McNally)<\/p>\n

“It’s a cultural responsibility we have to look after our country and heal it,” Aunty Deb said.<\/p>\n

“Our aspiration is this would be the first in many to come. Hopefully that will bolster other opportunities to work on other areas on country.”<\/p>\n

Gaining momentum<\/p>\n

The work reflects a broader shift in how wetlands are valued and managed in Queensland.<\/p>\n

For the Yuwi people, it is also strengthening the bonds between generations.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Yuwi elders and community stakeholders at the bund before works started. (Supplied: Greening Australia)<\/p>\n

“As much as it’s for us and our elders, we have a lot of young rangers here, so it’s a real learning curve for them as well,” Aunty Deb said.<\/p>\n

“To be able to share the special connection we have with our southern boundary of our native title area \u2026 it’s just been a project that we both hold really dear to our hearts.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The tide is turning in parts of coastal Queensland. Conservation groups, traditional owners and landholders are removing tidal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,4374,4371,4369,4368,4373,4372,4376,1225,4370,4375],"class_list":{"0":"post-3191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austrlia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-cape-palmerston-national-park","11":"tag-catchment-solutions-fisheries","12":"tag-coastal-wetlands","13":"tag-conservation","14":"tag-greening-australia","15":"tag-matt-moore","16":"tag-national-parks","17":"tag-queensland-parks-and-wildlife-service","18":"tag-saltwater","19":"tag-yuwi-aboriginal-corporation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}