What's in a lake?

Quite often it's not water.

Typical inland 'lake'

Quite often it is a lot of salt. Pink Lake is a hypersaline lake fed by artesian springs and has been mined for salt since 1981. The pink colour is found in the micro-organisms Dunaliella salina.

Pink Lake between Nhill and Dimboola

Speaking of lakes, the definition of lake in my Australian edition of the Collins English Dictionary defines a lake as 'n. an expanse of water entirely surrounded by land and unconnected to the sea except by rivers or streams'. Obviously they didn't check Australia's lakes before writing that definition of lake or come up with new ways to describe our lakes. I would add 'a flat depression, sometimes saline, that is often dry but fills after rain to become a water filled lake' and 'may be a man made dam that by convention is called a lake, likely to contain water all year round and performs the function of a conventional lake'. Some would say this idea of lake is culturally defined, arising out of the English European experience of a lake which we have inherited (Jay Arthur). Our lakes are often defined by what they are not; a dry salt lake, an ephemeral lake, not a 'proper' lake.

Claypan at Meedo after flooding rains

Claypan after rains

Lake Ballard is an ephemeral salt lake near Menzies usually dry with lovely red mud. It has a series of 51 stainless steel sculptures by Antony Gormley based on body scans of many of the local residents installed in 2003. I finally got to experience the lake and sculptures in 2009 on our way back from the Carnarvon Ranges.

Lake Ballard in late afternoon rain

We were up before dawn to walk onto the lake and view the sculptures in the early morning light. The red mud was sticky from the previous light rain but we trudged on through. It was fantastic, quiet, surreal, exciting. The figures had the thinned out look you see in a heat mirage - though it was late winter when we were there. It had been a must see for me ever since they had been installed and I am so glad they are still there and we finally made it.

Antony Gormley sculpture at dawn

Antony Gormley sculpture at sunrise

Lake Ballard in morning  light

Most of the permanent fresh water lakes that I have come across here are actually dams. I grew up in the hills where our favourite summer swimming hole was Lake Leschenaultia, which was a dam built in 1898 to provide water for the steam trains travelling along the Eastern Railway Line to the goldfields. I even learnt to swim there. The water was so cold I used to think our swimming lessons were in winter. It was only as an adult I realised our summer lessons were in the shady side of the lake where the water never had a chance to warm up plus the easterly winds that efficiently cooled the surface - overnight evaporative cooling. By the time our lessons finished we were blue with cold.

Lake Nallan near Cue is waterless in drought but in a good wet winter it fills up and is a haven for bird life as in the photo below. It too is a dam. This photo is taken from on the wall. I haven't been able to find out what was there before the wall was built but I expect it was some form of ephemeral wetland. There are a number of lovely mature paperbarks growing there.

Lake Nallan 

Part of wall at Lake Nallan