Lake Burbury

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Lake Burbury, Tasmania ( 42°07′S, 145°40′E) is a man made lake created by the Crotty Dam made by Hydro Tasmania inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. It has a surface area of 54 square kilometres.

It was named after Stanley Burbury former Governor of Tasmania.

Charles Whitham claimed that the 1917 proposed dam which was an early version of this dam should be named 'Lake Dorothy' in line with naming lakes on the west coast with female names.

The Crotty Dam site had been surveyed in the early twentieth century but the proposed dam did not proceed at that time. It was re-visited in the 1980s and involved in the last major dam construction by Hydro Tasmania.

It is popular as a fishing lake, but is susceptible to extreme weather. Its feeder rivers are the upper King, Nelson, Princess, and Eldon Rivers. There are design features in the Crotty Dam to lower the surface level rapidly in the event of severe floodwaters.

The lake has the 'Bradshaw' bridge crossing it to connect the Lyell Highway across it, and has two dams - one in the King River Gorge - the Crotty Dam , and the other adjacent to Mount Darwin, the Darwin Dam.

The dam inundated the historical sites of the Darwin and Crotty - as well as the bridge of the North Mount Lyell Railway over the King River which was not salvaged before the flooding.

[edit] References

Blainey, Geoffrey (2000). The Peaks of Lyell, 6th ed., Hobart: St. David's Park Publishing. ISBN 0-7246-2265-9.
Rae, Lou. The Abt Railway and Railways of the Lyell region. Sandy Bay: Lou Rae. ISBN 0-9592098-7-5.
Whitham, Charles. Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty, Reprint 2003, Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.

2003 edition - Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.

1949 edition - Hobart: Davies Brothers. OCLC 48825404; ASIN B000FMPZ80

1924 edition - Queenstown: Mount Lyell Tourist Association. OCLC 35070001; ASIN B0008BM4XC

Whitham, Lindsay (2002). Railways, Mines, Pubs and People and other historical research. Sandy Bay: Tasmanian Historical Research Association. ISBN 0-909479-21-6.