In early 2013 the city of Brisbane came within a few hours of running out of drinking water – why? The Brisbane water supply is threatened by sediment and nutrients from upstream agricultural catchments, with the problem exacerbated in wet years. World-wide river restoration is a multibillion-dollar industry with annual expenditure in Australia alone estimated at around $100 million. There are two main drivers for river restoration: the protection and improvement of drinking water quality and general aquatic ecosystem health. In Southeast Queensland (SEQ) the water authority (Seqwater) is committed to protecting supply by establishing catchment riparian vegetation that will both reduce erosion rates, but will also trap sediment before it reaches the waterway. While intuitively sound, the scientific evidence to support this management strategy at the scale of intervention required (i.e. catchments) is poor. Previous research indicates that nearly 70% of the region’s sediment loads originate from less than 30% of the catchments. However, little research has been conducted into the specific areas that contribute most sediment. Even less research has been conducted beyond simple vegetation mapping, into the ecology of riparian vegetation in SEQ specifically, or subtropical river systems in general. In particular, there are considerable knowledge gaps concerning the capacity for passive regeneration of riparian vegetation and the resilience and recovery of established or establishing vegetation in the face of flood disturbances, and weed invasion. Such knowledge is critical for informing restoration decisions regarding approaches to revegetation in different locations at different times. This paper explores the links between fluvial disturbance and riparian vegetation traits and outlines restoration trajectories for riparian vegetation in sub-tropical streams, with a special focus on reducing sediment and nutrient pollutant loads.