This species was formerly distributed across a large area of south-east Australia, including Tasmania, from 0-1,300m asl (Osborne, Littlejohn and Thomson 1996). In New South Wales and the Australia Capital Territory its range was centred on the Murray and Murrumbidgee River valleys and their tributaries. It occurred throughout the Southern Tablelands and was also recorded on the Central Tablelands as far north as Bathurst (Ehmann and White 1997). It was widespread across Victoria, absent only from the west desert regions and the east alpine regions (Littlejohn 1963, 1982; Hero, Littlejohn and Marantelli 1991). In South Australia the species is known to occur along the lower Murray River valley, the lower south-east to near Keith, and a small introduced population, in the Adelaide Hills (Tyler 1978). In Tasmania, the species occurred broadly across the north and east of the island and on the Bass Strait Island (Brook 1979), and in pockets in the south of the state. This species has also been introduced to New Zealand, where it is widespread across North and South Islands and on Great Barrier and Stewart Islands.