Visit to Weereewa New South wales

Last update: 4.12.11 First posted: 28.07.10 by Paul in Incredible Spreadable

Lake George (or Weereewa in the indigenous language)

is a lake in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia about 30 minutes drive north-east of Canberra along the Federal Highway en route to Sydney. It is renowned for emptying and filling on a cyclical basis, and for the treachery of its waters when full (a number of people have drowned).

Lake George is an ancient lake, believed to be more than a million years old. Originally, small streams drained its catchment into the Yass River, but then the Lake George Escarpment rose due to major crustal movement along a strong fault line, blocking this drainage and forming the lake. Lake George has in previous Ice Ages been much larger and deeper.

The thickness of sediment beneath the lake exceeds 250 metres, according to a Bureau of Mineral Resources Canberra drilling program in the 1982/83 summer. The oldest sediments, which lie some distance above the bedrock, were dated at 3 – 5 million years using spore and pollen analysis and magnetic reversal stratigraphy.

At 25 km long and 10 km wide, Lake George is long, largely flat and extremely shallow, with a very small catchment. Resultant evaporation rates as well as a tendency for strong winds to blow the water back on itself explain the mysterious filling and drying episodes on both short term (hours) and long term (years) time scales that have been observed.

The lake’s depth when full can range from 1.5 to 4.5 metres; however in many areas it is only around 0.8–1.0 metre deep. Its deepest point has been measured as 7.5 metres. When full, the lake holds about 500 million cubic metres of water. Between the late 1980s and mid 1990s, the lake lapped the Federal Highway on its western edge.

Lake George is the site of an experimental scientific wave behaviour platform established by researchers from the Civil Engineering department of the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. Lake George has been a popular fishery at times, after high water levels and stockings of fish.
Hang gliders are flown from the escarpment when easterly winds form standing waves. Pilots can then fly along the twenty-five kilometre length of the lake. Unpowered model aircraft are also flown from this area, and powered models are flown from the lake floor.

Wine grapes are grown along the western edge of the lake, on the escarpment. Sheep are grazed on the lake when it is dry or nearly so.
The Lake was named on 28 October 1820 for King George 1II by Governor Macquarie, who was touring the area as part of a Royal Commission to inquire into the condition of the Colony. It was first ‘discovered’ by Joseph Wild on 19 August 1820. In the local indigenous language, its name was Werriwa (originally spelt Weereewa in the journals of the explorers who noted the name), which means “bad water”; even when full, the lake is one of the saltiest bodies of water in inland NSW, almost as saline as seawater.

A large and beautiful billabong existed at the swampy Bungendore end of the lake, and in the 1850s was stocked with Murray cod fished out of the Molonglo River. At some time the billabong overflowed and introduced Murray cod into the lake; they bred rapidly and from the 1850s to the 1890s Lake George abounded with Murray cod. A small fishing trawler even trawled the lake for the cod. The Federation Drought commenced in the mid 1890s, and by 1902 the lake had dried out completely. In their search for water to survive in, the Murray cod flocked into the few small creek mouths feeding the lake but were killed in their thousands. The original billabong has long since been drained.

In the early 1900s an area immediately to the east of the lake was surveyed as a possible site for the Capital city of Australia. Instead, the Australian Capital Territory and city of Canberra were established some 30 km south-west of the lake.

During World War II, a wooden ‘dummy’ ship was floated on the lake and used for bombing practice by the Royal Australian Air Force. It is possible that there is still unexploded ordnance settled into the lake bed.

On 8 July 1956 five cadets from the Royal Military College, Duntroon drowned in a yachting accident. An unsuccessful rescue attempt lasted five and a half hours; the rescuers subsequently received the George Medal.

Due to the ongoing drought in Australia, Lake George dried out completely in November 2002 and remained so until February 2010 when it started filling. The last time the lake dried out completely was during a severe drought in the 1940s, although it did partially dry in 1986, leaving large pools of water. When the lake is empty it is used by farmers to graze sheep and cattle.

During my recent visit to this part of Australia the lake was completely dry again, there were huge numbers of birds flocking far out onto the lake floor, and there was a strong warm wind blowing across from the distant hills. It is an extraordinary sight, the sheer enormity of the space and the silence made it an awesome spectacle.