Lake Boonderoo Explained

Lake Boonderoo
Pushpin Map:Australia Western Australia
Pushpin Label Position:top
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Western Australia
Location:Goldfields-Esperance, Western Australia
Coords:-31.1589°N 124.3611°W
Type:Ephemeral freshwater
Inflow:Ponton Creek
Basin Countries:Australia
Area:25km2
Embedded:
Stroke-Colour:
  1. C60C30
Stroke-Width:3
Marker:water
Marker-Colour:
  1. 1974D2
Zoom:10

Lake Boonderoo is an ephemeral freshwater lake located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.

It is situated approximately 200km (100miles) east of Kambalda on the Nullarbor Plain. The lake covers an area of roughly 2500ha when full.[1] It is fed by Ponton Creek on its north western side.

The lake lies mostly within the boundaries of Boonderoo and Kanandah Stations which were established in the 1960s and have been running cattle since 1973. The lake has filled in 1975 following heavy rain events further north near Leonora after a cyclone. The rains filled both Lake Braeside and Lake Rebecca to overflow down Ponton Creek to fill Boonderoo and expand out to an area of between 50km2 to 80km2. The next time the lake filled was in 1995 following Cyclone Bobby.[2]

Lake Boonderoo is an important wetland for birds and invertebrates as it dries out and becomes increasingly saline. In 2005 the lake was found to have a 250ha infestation of the invasive weed, the tamarisk tree.[3]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lake Boonderoo . Bonzle.com. 21 May 2014.
  2. Web site: Appendices Station Summaries. Government of Western Australia. 31 March 2011. 21 May 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20120323194229/http://agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_assets/content/lwe/rpm/techbull97_nullarbor_part8_appendices.pdf. 23 March 2012. dead.
  3. Web site: Case Studies. 2010. 21 May 2014. weeds.org.au. https://web.archive.org/web/20130420140205/http://weeds.org.au/WoNS/athelpine/docs/manual3.pdf. 20 April 2013. dead.