Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are capital breeders, migrating annually between feeding and breeding grounds. Deviations from this traditional migration and occurrence of feeding behaviour along migration routes have been documented for several populations worldwide, suggesting an intrinsic ability to adapt to variability in prey abundance and type. The environmental parameters that drive this behaviour, known as ‘supplementary feeding’, are yet to be described with certainty, however, are thought to include interactions between boundary currents, local eddy fields and significant upwelling occurrence. Here we report on persistent feeding events by humpback whales along the east coast of Australia over the past three decades. These feeding events are analysed to understand the influence that environmental factors such as sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a, and fluctuation of the El Nino Southern Oscillation index have upon the occurrence of both individuals and large aggregations of humpback whales feeding within Australian waters.