The Australasian Figbird is distributed in northern and eastern Australia and south-east New Guinea. It is found in a variety of forest and woodland habitats including parks and gardens and it requires fruiting trees to provide it with food.

In the southern race, found in eastern Australia, the male has a grey collar, throat and breast with white belly. The races found in north-east Queensland (Photos 1 to 5) and northern Australia (photo 6) have a yellow throat, breast and belly and lacks the grey collar. In all races, the male has a black head and cheeks and bare red skin around the eye. The female is dark brown above with brown bare skin around the eye while underparts are whitish with brown streaks.