Since European settlement, Corryong Creek has become increasingly unstable, exhibiting an overall pattern of straightening, widening and increased sediment deposition. A change in catchment hydrology is evident, which is due to a combination of severe land clearing and an increase in average rainfall since the mid-20th century. Because climate is a significant influence on flow, periodicities in channel stability are observable through climatic phase shifts between wet and dry years dictated by the El Nino Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean dipole. Flood-dominated and drought-dominated regimes were not observed in the rainfall and flow data. Instead, specific large flood events play an important part in causing long-term channel instability. In the case of Corryong Creek, climatic influence dominates general patterns of channel change.

However, rates of channel change are not consistent across smaller spatial and temporal scales. This revealed the human influence of river management and riparian willow cover, which have distorted the capacity of channel change to occur. Corryong Creek has experienced a change in river management style over the century - prior to the establishment of a management authority in 1975, the river was significantly straightened, realigned and desnagged. These still cause flow issues today, and management has since shifted its focus to increasing geomorphic bank stability through rocking. Although evidence of willows enhancing bank erosion due to channel constriction dates back to the 1950s, willow planting only ceased in the 1990s. In general, channel straightening has increased channel instability by increasing flow velocities (in addition to directly affecting channel planform), bank stabilisation has stunted erosion rates, and willows enhance channel widening and sediment deposition (but their effect reduces as channels widen). Overall, human influence has enhanced channel instability. Recent attempts to increase bank stability through rocking has been felt on a reach scale. These findings have significance to stream management because it is an example of an integrative, long-term, catchment-scale analysis of multiple geomorphic drivers. Such an approach is advantageous to understanding the fluvial system, and informing management priorities.