The Georgina/Diamantina catchment ranges from semi arid in the north and north-east, to arid in its southern and western parts. Consequently, the streams of the catchment are ephemeral with short periods of flow following rain, and long periods of no flow.

The Georgina River rises in the north on the Barkly Tableland and flows more than 1000 kilometres to Goyder lagoon in South Australia. There it joins the water of the Diamantina which has come up to 800 kilometres from the north-east.

These rivers have very low gradients and disperse into multiple braided channels, floodplains, waterholes and wetlands of the south-west Queensland channel country before flowing into Goyder Lagoon then on to Lake Eyre via Warburton Creek.

The catchment contains representations of the Mitchell Grass Downs, Mount Isa Inlier, Tanami Desert, Channel Country, and Simpson/Strzelecki Dunefields biogeographic regions.

With such a diversity of land types, the catchment supports a variety of land uses, including Aboriginal, pastoral, mining, petroleum, tourism, conservation, town commons, stock routes, and National Parks.

These land uses and interests have made the Georgina/Diamantina Catchment what it is today. They have also contributed to sustainability issues for the natural resources of the catchment.

In large flood events, Goyder Lagoon becomes an extensive wetland area of over 1300km2. The water often takes many months to travel from the higher rainfall areas of the north to Goyder’s Lagoon.