Flat Rock Creek

Our water quality monitoring program has shown Flat Rock Creek to have good water quality. Find out more about the estuary and its unique features.

Flat Rock Creek is an estuarine creek with an intermittently closed entrance. Flat Rock creek flows into Jervis Bay and is part of the Jervis Bay Marine Park.

The catchment of this lagoon is entirely within the Jervis Bay Territory.

Estuary health and features

Water quality

As part of our water quality monitoring program we assess the water quality and ecosystem health of an estuary using a range of relevant indicators. We sample a subset of the estuaries between Wollongong and the Victorian border every 3 years. The most recent sampling in Flat Rock Creek was completed over the 2011–12 summer when 2 sites were sampled on a monthly basis.

Flat Rock Creek water quality report card for algae and water clarity showing colour-coded ratings (red, orange, yellow, light green and dark green, which represent very poor, poor, fair, good and excellent, respectively). Algae is rated 'good' and water clarity is rated 'excellent' giving an overall rating of 'good' or 'B'.

This report card represents 2 water quality indicators that we routinely measure: the amount of algae present and water clarity. Low levels of these 2 indicators equate with good water quality.

The report card shows the condition of the estuary was good with:

  • algae abundance graded good (B)
  • water clarity graded excellent (A)
  • overall estuary health graded good (B).

Find out more about our estuary report cards and what each grade means. Read our sampling, data analysis and reporting protocols and find out how we calculate these grades.

Physical characteristics

Estuary type: Creek

Entrance
location
Latitude (ºS) –35.12
Longitude (ºE) 150.70
Catchment area (km2) 6.9
Estuary area (km2) 0.01
Estuary volume (ML) 2.5
Average depth (m) 0.2
Notes: km2 = square kilometres; m = metres; ML = megalitres.

Water depth and survey data

Bathymetric and coastal topography data for this estuary are available in our data portal.

Land use

The entire catchment of Flat Rock Creek is undisturbed forest located in Booderee National Park.

National and marine parks

  • Jervis Bay National Park is the largest conservation area in the Currambene Creek catchment area.
  • Flat Rock Creek is part of the Jervis Bay Marine Park. The entrance of the creek is included in the habitat protection zone for the bay.

Community involvement

  • Shoalhaven City Council’s Bushcare webpage provides links to a range of active groups in and around this catchment.
Flat Rock Creek

Local government management

Local councils manage estuaries within their area unless the estuary is attached to a marine park.

This estuary is part of the Jervis Bay Territory, which is administered by the Australian Government.