Hydrologic Reference Stations

The Hydrologic Reference Stations identifies Australian streamflow trends and detects long-term variability and change in streamflow.

You can search the national network of 467 stations from a single website and view or download comprehensive streamflow information for a specific station. Using the online tool you can select a station, explore and display streamflow data as an annual, seasonal, monthly or daily time series. You can also explore trends in streamflow using the trend explorer for the Hydrologic Reference Stations.

The Hydrologic Reference Stations are well-maintained river gauges of long, high quality streamflow records managed by Australian and State water agencies. The stations can be used to estimate trends in long-term and seasonal water availability from climate variability and change.

Spread across contrasting hydro-climatic regions, the network includes unregulated streamflow stations in catchments with minimal effects of water resource development and land use change. The main objective of the Hydrologic Reference Stations is to allow for detection and attribution of long-term streamflow variability and change.

The Hydrologic Reference Stations is delivered by the Bureau of Meteorology, which has responsibility for compiling and delivering Australia's water information, as part of the Australian Government's $450 million Improving Water Information Program.

Download the Hydrologic Reference Stations information sheet.

Update October 2015

The website was updated in October 2015. The main features are:

• One new station in New South Wales, namely Shoalhaven River at Fossickers Flat (215207);
• Streamflow data up to December 2014 are provided for most stations. A comprehensive comparison with the old and current data set is also included;
• A comprehensive cross reference of streamflow data quality codes between the Bureau and data providers, for all stations;
• A list of station details, including site name, location, jurisdiction and data owner is now available for download along with a table of data owners;
• The longest stream length for each of the stations are provided in Quick Facts and Station Facts;
• A functionality to download the daily streamflow data for all stations using Feedback

Update August 2020

The website was updated in August 2020. The main features are:

• The station selection guidelines are revised;
• 43 of the existing stations have been removed, failing to meet the revised selection guidelines;
• 288 new stations from all jurisdictions are added;
• Total number 467 stations;
• Streamflow data up to February 2019 are provided for most of the stations;
• An uncertainty measure of the streamflow in the form of percentage of flow volume above the maximum gauged discharge is introduced;
• Replacement of the regression with Sen's slope to assess trend;
• A brief introduction to all the new features in this HRS update

Update September 2022

The website was updated in September 2022. The main features are:

• Streamflow data up to February 2022 are provided for most of the stations;
• An updated list of station details, including site name, location, jurisdiction and data owner is available for download;
• An updated list of station facts is now available for download

Update August 2024

The website was updated in August 2024. The main features are:

• Streamflow data up to February 2024 are provided for most of the stations;
• An updated list of station details, including site name, location, jurisdiction and data owner is available for download;
• An updated list of station facts is now available for download