# List of drainage basins of Australia

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels, and is separated from adjacent basins by a drainage divide.
Major drainage basins are coded by hierarchy within the National Catchment Boundaries (NCB) dataset, with primary drainage basins attributed Level 1 and smaller river catchment subdivisions attributed Level 2. Beyond that, minor river and creek watersheds are ranked by the Pfafstetter Coding System. This article deals with surface water rather than groundwater basins, such as the Great Artesian Basin.
Australia has twelve distinguished NCB Level 1 drainage divisions or thirteen after splitting the South East Coast division at the New South Wales–Victoria border as defined by the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2012, a hydrological survey conducted by the Bureau of Meteorology. Runoff from these divisions generally flows into the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and Lake Eyre.

## List of NCB Level 1 drainage basins

| Code | Name | Area (km$^2$) | Average rainfall (mm) | Accessible surface storage capacity (GL) | Major rivers | Drains to | Notes |
| NEC | North East Coast (Queensland) | 451,000 | 827 | 9,771 | Suttor River, Belyando River, Nogoa River | Coral Sea (Pacific Ocean) | |
| SEN | South East Coast (NSW) | 129,500 | 995 | 4,056 | Manning River, Karuah River, Hunter River, Hawkesbury River | Tasman Sea (Pacific Ocean) | |
| SEV | South East Coast (Victoria) | 134,600 | 734 | 7,570 | Thomson River (VIC), Macalister River, Snowy River, Yarra River, Glenelg River | Southern Ocean, Bass Strait | |
| TAS | Tasmania | 68,000 | 1,398 | 22,041 | River Derwent, Gordon River, Huon River, South Esk River | Southern Ocean, Bass Strait, Tasman Sea (Pacific Ocean) | Much of the storage capacity is used for hydroelectricity |
| MDB | Murray-Darling Basin | 1,061,000 | 458 | 25,320 | Murray River, Darling River, Murrumbidgee River, Lachlan River | Southern Ocean | |
| SAG | South Australian Gulf | 117,700 | 306 | 197 | River Torrens, Onkaparinga River, Gawler River, Broughton River | Great Australian Bight (Southern Ocean) | |
| SWP | South Western Plateau | 1,093,000 | 232 | No data | | Great Australian Bight (Southern Ocean) | Driest region in Australia with no major storage |
| SWC | South West Coast | 326,000 | 439 | 959 | Avon River, Blackwood River | Indian Ocean, Great Australian Bight (Southern Ocean) | |
| PG | Pilbara-Gascoyne | 478,000 | 259 | 63 | Greenough River, Murchison River | Indian Ocean | |
| NWP | North Western Plateau | 716,000 | 316 | No data | De Grey River | Indian Ocean | No major storage |
| TTS | Tanami-Timor Sea Coast | 1,162,000 | 656 | 10,747 | Ord River, Alligator Rivers, Daly River, Katherine River, Fitzroy River | Timor Sea (Indian Ocean) | |
| LEB | Lake Eyre Basin | 1,281,000 | 242 | No data | Georgina River, Diamantina River, Thomson River (QLD), Barcoo River, Cooper Creek | Lake Eyre | Only major surface Endorheic basin |
| CC | Carpentaria Coast | 647,000 | 744 | 99 | Mitchell River, Flinders River, Gilbert River, Leichhardt River | Gulf of Carpentaria, Arafura Sea | |
* A $^^$ New drainage basin codes assigned by the Bureau of Meteorology in 2010. Previous codes were labelled using Roman Numerals. See for details.
* B $^^$ Long term average from July 1911 to June 2010
* C $^^$ The obsolete Australia River Basins 1997 survey listed the Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin as a separate division, but has now been combined with the Lake Eyre Basin.
* D $^^$ Known in Queensland as Gulf Basin

## List of NCB Level 2 drainage basins

The following is a list of river or island catchments that are subdivisions of the basin containing them.

### North East Coast

* Jacky Jacky Creek
* Barron River
* Mulgrave-Russel Rivers
* Johnstone River
* Tully-Murray Rivers
* Cardwell Coast
* Hinchinbrook Island
* Herbert River
* Black River
* Ross River
* Haughton River
* Olive-Pascoe Rivers
* Burdekin River
* Don River
* Proserpine River
* Whitsunday Islands
* O'Connell River
* Pioneer River
* Plane Creek
* Styx River
* Shoalwater Creek
* Water Park Creek
* Lockhart River
* Fitzroy River (QLD)
* Curtis Island
* Calliope River
* Boyne River
* Baffle Creek
* Kolan River
* Burnett River
* Burrum River
* Mary River (QLD)
* Fraser Island
* Stewart River
* Noosa River
* Maroochy River
* Pine River
* Brisbane River
* Stradbroke Island
* Logan-Albert Rivers
* South Coast
* Normanby River
* Jeannie River
* Endeavour River
* Daintree River
* Mossman River