It is also found in the coastal Queensland rivers and the Cooper Creek ecosystem, along with Fraser Island.

The X and Y chromosomes are macrochromosomes, unlike most genetically sex-determined turtles including its close relative Chelodina longicollis, which has microchromosomes.

It is also hypothesized that this turtle's sex chromosomes were formed from the translocation of an ancestral Y microchromosome onto an autosome.

The specific epithet, macquarii, refers to the turtle's type locality: the Macquarie River.

[11][14] The subspecific name, emmotti, is in honor of Australian farmer and naturalist Angus Emmott (born 1962).