Rookwood Weir (Managibei Gamu)

Construction of Rookwood Weir (Managibei Gamu) was completed in late 2023.

Sunwater will operate the weir from mid-2024, once the wet commissioning process is complete and all approvals are in place. They will manage water sales, ongoing water supply services and billing.

The weir is in the Fitzroy Basin water plan area in Central Queensland. This Water Plan is under review and must be replaced before it expires.

Partnership with First Nations peoples

The Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water and Sunwater have an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) for the Rookwood Weir Project with the Darumbal People Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC (DPAC) enabling all parties to work closely together.

This long-term partnership acknowledges the First Nations People of the area and the cultural significance of the Fitzroy River.

The ILUA included one of the benefits such as co-naming of the weir with a Traditional language name in addition to English language name.

In the Darumbal language name, Managibei Gamu (pronounced: Ma-an-ge-bay Ga-moo) means 'keeping – saving' water.

Building the weir

It is a $568.9 million investment in Central Queensland’s economy and water security.

The Queensland and Australian governments each contributed $183.6 million to the project. Sunwater funded the remaining costs.

It has created 76,000 megalitres of additional water supply for Central Queensland. Over half of this is for agricultural customers. The remainder will supply residential and industrial customers.

Access to water from the scheme