The Pioneer River is a river in North Queensland, Australia. The 120-kilometre long river flows through the city of Mackay.
Captain John Mackay and his party were the first Europeans to discover the river in 1860. Mackay named it Mackay River after his father, George Mackay of Uralla in New South Wales. However, when George Bowen, the Governor of Queensland, visited on HMS Pioneer in October 1862, the name was changed to Pioneer River.
The river rises in the Pinnacle Ranges below Mount McBryde near Pinevale, Queensland, 63 kilometres southwest of Mackay. The river flows in a northerly direction into the Pioneer Valley. At Mirani the river flows to the east before reaching its mouth and emptying into the Coral Sea at Mackay. The river is joined by ten tributaries including Cattle Creek, Queensland (North Burnett Region) and Blacks Creek. The river is too shallow for navigation, drying sandbanks encountered only a few kilometres upstream of the river mouth. During king tides the Pioneer River may experience a tidal range of up to 6.4 metres.
The catchment covers an area of 1,550 square kilometres.
