The South Eastern Highlands is an interim Australian bioregion in eastern Australia, that spans parts of the states and territories of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria. The bioregion comprises 8,375,961 hectares (20,697,450 acres) and is approximately 3,860 kilometres (2,400 mi) long. The Australian Alps as well as the South West Slopes bound the region from the south and west; and to the northeast, the Sydney Basin bioregion, as well as the bioregion of the South East Corner, to the east.

In addition to Canberra, several regional cities make up part of the bioregion such as Lithgow and Bathurst in the north, Queanbeyan and Yass in the centre, Goulburn and Bowral in the east, and the towns of Bombala and Delegate in the south. The South Eastern Highlands are an important source of gold, copper, tin, oil, and natural gas.

The region is known for the mountains and plateaus that parallel the east and southeast territory of Australia. This forms the Continental Divide, which includes Tasmania, and rises to Mount Kosciuszko, continental Australia's highest peak at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) tall.

The South Eastern Highlands have been occupied by many groups of people within history. The region is divided into different groups. The Ngunawal and Gandangara groups occupied the northern part. Ngarigo groups lived in the southern and center of the region. The Walbanga group also lived in the center along with the Ngarigo group. In the western part of the highlands, a group named the Wagal occupied that part of the highlands.

The South Eastern Highlands have many resources that provide food for the groups that live there. Some of the foods that the people relied on were the indefinite quantity of vegetables that were available to the people. The highlands also provided the people yam, daisy, and wattle seeds that were very useful during the months of July and August. Other resources were fish, crayfish, possums, and other larger animals that people could hunt. This really gave occupiers a reason to stay in the highlands because they had everything they needed to survive.

During the 1820s, the Europeans began to settle in the South Eastern Highlands because they saw potential in the land. While the Europeans settled in the highlands, this disrupted the lifestyle of the original people living there and their resources. Their resources were being badly affected by this. There were reports on how there was a shortage of water which would later effect the animals that rely on this resource. This change affected the people because now there was a shortage of water and animals such as fish and animals that would constantly come and drink water would eventually die out. Having the Europeans settle in on this land not only affected the resources of the people, but started to spread dangerous diseases to the population. Some of the diseases that were spread were the influenza epidemic and syphilis.

Although there were many damaging effects European settlement in the highlands, there were a lot of positive things that came out of this. One of the positive things was that the Europeans discovered copper in the bioregion which later became a place for copper mining. They also found gold, silver, antimony and zinc which really helped their economy. Miners who would mine in the area would grow crops such as apple, cherry and plum trees. This gave people more resources and benefited them a lot.

The South Eastern Highlands Bioregion encompasses the ranges of the Great Dividing Range that are geographically beneath the southwest Australian Alps. It spreads to the Great Escarpment in the east and to the western slopes of the inland drainage basins, and continues into Victoria.