Australian mangroves

Australia has approximately 11,500 km² of mangroves, primarily on the northern and eastern coasts of the continent. Areas where mangroves occur include the intertidal zone of tropical, subtropical and protected temperate coastal rivers, estuaries, bays and marine shorelines. Less than 1% of Australia's total forest area is mangrove forest.

Although mangroves are typically found in tropical and subtropical tidal areas, there are occurrences as far south as Millers Landing in Wilsons Promontory, Victoria (38°54′S), Barker Inlet in Adelaide, South Australia and Leschenault Inlet, near Bunbury, Western Australia.

Nearly half of Australia's mangrove forests are found in Queensland (44% of Australia's total), followed by the Northern Territory (37%) and Western Australia (17%).

In Western Australia, populations of mangroves are scattered down the coast; the population of the Abrolhos Islands is 300 kilometres south of the nearest population of Shark Bay, and the population at Bunbury is even further south than this (500 km). The Bunbury colonisation may have occurred relatively recently, perhaps only several thousand years ago, with propagules transferred by the Leeuwin Current. The most inland occurrence of mangroves in Australia is a stand of grey mangroves in the Mandora Marsh, some 60 km from the coast.