Rookwood Weir Project
Sunwater is committed to delivering water for prosperity, benefiting Central Queensland communities, agriculture and industrial enterprise.
Rookwood Weir Water Sales and Landholder Support
Once complete, Rookwood Weir will be the largest weir operated by Sunwater in regional Queensland. This valuable new water source will bring much-needed water security as well as economic growth and jobs for Central Queenslanders.
In May 2020, Sunwater invited landholders and investors to discuss their water needs and the opportunity to secure a water allocation from Rookwood Weir through a two-step process:
- Tender One: lots of 500 ML and greater – opportunity to purchase upwards of 30,000 megalitres (ML) of medium priority (MP) water for agricultural and non-urban use. Tender One closed at 4:00pm, 21 July 2020.
- Tender Two (2022): smaller lots of less than 500 ML – expressions of interest for landholders to nominate their interest in obtaining assistance from Sunwater to prepare for Tender Two closed on 30 November 2020.
Sunwater, in collaboration with Advance Rockhampton, has released a landholder support and grants program to provide landholders with business information and advice prior to Tender Two. Information about the programs is available under the Landholder Support Program drop-down below.
Tender One (July 2020): lots of 500 ML and greater
The Invitation to Tender (ITT) for Tender One closed on 21 July 2020. Unsold water allocations from this initial sales process (Tender One) will be made available in the second tender process (Tender Two), which is expected to be held in 2022.
Tender Two (2022): smaller lots of less than 500 ML
A minimum of 7,500 ML of MP water allocations per annum is expected to be made available for Tender Two, plus any additional water unsold in Tender One (subject to requirements of other urban and industrial customers).
The Expression of Interest (EOI) for landholders to nominate their interest in obtaining assistance from Sunwater to prepare for Tender Two closed on 30 November 2020.
Expression of Interest for Tender Two
The Expression of Interest (EOI) for landholders to nominate their interest in obtaining assistance from Sunwater to prepare for Tender Two closed on 30 November 2020.
It was not a requirement to submit an EOI to participate in Tender Two or to apply for a support package. The EOI process gives participants an opportunity to provide feedback which will be considered when designing the support packages available to landholders.
Sunwater will use feedback collected through the EOI to design support packages to meet landholder needs, building on previous work undertaken such as land suitability, crop market and economic analysis.
The packages will support selected landholders in understanding or gathering the relevant information to participate in Tender Two. This information may comprise details specific to their landholdings including assessing the commercial feasibility of various cropping options.
In 2021, Sunwater will provide information about the support packages available and open applications to landholders.
Important information for landholders
- Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales: Landholder Opportunities Overview – examples of how other growers have used supplemented water to grow their business
- Expression of Interest (EOI) form – to register your interest to participate in the EOI process for Tender Two
- Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales – Landholder Expression of Interest brochure – provides further information about how landholders can participate in the EOI process and prepare for Tender Two (2022)
- Rookwood Weir Project Calendar 2020-2023 – what’s happening across water planning, water sales and construction of the Rookwood Weir
- Reef protection regulations – Any purchaser of water from the Rookwood Weir will need to comply with the requirements of the Reef Protection Regulations which can be found here.
Tender Two is expected to be held in 2022. The Sunwater Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales: Information Memorandum (see also the Appendix H addendum) provides detailed information about the opportunities available to landholders considering a water allocation from Rookwood Weir to grow their business enterprise.
Landholder Support Program


With the development of Rookwood Weir, landholders in the Lower Fitzroy region will have a unique opportunity to bid for supplemented water to grow their business as part of Sunwater’s Tender Two water sales process.
For landholders, access to this water could mean future crop irrigation potential, the establishment of orchards, or the expansion of existing agricultural operations.
To assist landholders in understanding and capitalising on the opportunities made available by securing water through the Rookwood Weir Tender Two process, Advance Rockhampton will facilitate a Rookwood Weir Landholder Support Program on Sunwater’s behalf.
A variety of support tools and a grants program will be released in the coming months to assist landholders to further understand and assess the options available to them. More information on this is available below.
Grants program activities
The Rookwood Weir Grants Program closed at 5pm on Wednesday 15 December 2021.
Applications have been assessed by Advance Rockhampton with all landholders notified of the outcome.
If you have any enquiries regarding the grants program, please direct them to Advance Rockhampton.
Workshops
The Gear Up for Rookwood Weir Tender Two Water Sales – Horticulture and Cropping Workshop was held on Thursday 5 May 2022.
The workshop helped landholders in the lower Fitzroy River decide whether to bid for water as part of the weir’s tender 2 water sales.
The replay of the workshop, along with video time stamps, can be found here. Additionally, presentations from the night can be found here.
Tools
The following tools can provide assistance with financial analysis, crop suitability and soils types across the Lower Fitzroy region.
- Rookwood Weir financial analysis tool (farm development cash flow including capital and operational expenditure, revenue for tree crops including macadamias, mandarins, lychees, mangoes and for cropping)
- Crop suitability tool
- Land suitability maps
- Lower Fitzroy soils map.
Resources
The case studies below will provide an in-depth analysis of potential agricultural opportunities through irrigation, including crop overviews and requirements, industry analysis, capital expenditure, operational expenditure, performance indicators and recommendations.
The Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales Information Memorandum provides detailed information regarding crops and the potential opportunities available to grow business enterprises.
- Business case studies
- Business case – mandarins
- Business case – irrigated cropping – coming soon.
Useful links
Video suite
Contact information
Advance Rockhampton is working closely with Sunwater to implement the Rookwood Weir Landholder Support Program.
Advance Rockhampton is the economic arm of the Rockhampton Regional Council and works collaboratively with Livingstone Shire Council and Central Highlands Regional Council.
Questions regarding the program should be directed to:
Rookwood Weir Landholder Support Program Coordinator
Wade Clark
Industry Engagement Manager
Advance Rockhampton
E: [email protected]
P: 0458 579 457
A: 220 Quay Street, Rockhampton QLD 4700
For more information regarding the Tender Two water sales, contact [email protected].
Sunwater appointed OCM as independent probity advisor to the Landholder Support and Grants Program to ensure a fair and transparent process. If you have any probity-related concerns with the program you can contact OCM directly:
Iain McIndoe
[email protected]
0409 347 150.
Information
Please contact the Rookwood Weir project team for more information.