The Macquarie Marshes is situated at the lower end of the Macquarie River in central NSW approximately 100kms north of Warren. It is one of the largest remaining inland semi-permanent wetlands in south-eastern Australia.

The Marshes are approximately 100kms long and 25-30kms wide and support a wide range of plants and animals. The Marshes contain extensive areas of common reed, cumbungi, river redgum woodlands, coolibah woodlands and water couch grasslands.

The Macquarie Marshes covers about 200,000 hectares and are recognised on the Ramsar Convention as an internationally important wetland. The Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve contains 18,192 hectares and is managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. The remaining 90% is mainly private land managed for agricultural purposes.

The Nature Reserve is mostly surrounded by private land and it is important to respect this when visiting.

The Macquarie Marshes support over 200 bird species, a number of which depend on the area to breed. Some bird species breed in large colonies in the Marshes including ibis and egrets.

Many of these birds perform important functions in the environment. Ibis feed on insects, controlling their numbers and reducing their impact on crops and pastures.

Threatened bird species that occur in the Marsh include Brolga, Australasian Bittern, Blue-billed Duck, Magpie Goose, Freckled Duck, Painted Snipe and Black-necked Stork.

The Macquarie Marshes are also an extremely important filter system of the Macquarie River before it enters the Murray Darling system.

QUAMBONE PAGE and the MACQUARIE MARSHES WEBSITE

The Macquarie Marshes are located 1hours drive west of Coonamble via Quambone.  Access to the Marshes must be pre-arranged via tour operators or property owners in the area.