Lake Awoonga

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Lake Awoonga
Lake Awoonga
Location	Via Benaraby, Central Queensland, Australia
Coordinates	24.0753° S 151.308° ECoordinates: 24.0753° S 151.308° E
Lake type	reservoir
Catchment area	Boyne River
Basin countries	Australia
Surface area	6,750ha
Water volume	777,000 ML
Surface elevation	40m AHD

Lake Awoonga is a dam located 30km (19 miles) from Gladstone, in Central Queensland, Australia. It is approximately 30 minutes drive from Gladstone, via Benaraby.

"Awoonga Dam" as it is also known, is the main water supply for the Gladstone region. Its beautiful recreation areas are provided for locals and tourists by theGladstone Area Water Board.^[1]

1 Specifications
2 Activities
3 Fauna
4 Fact sheet
5 Facilities at Lake Awoonga Main Recreation Area
6 Facilities at Boynedale Bush Camp
7 See also
8 Notes and references
9 External links

[edit] Specifications

Built across the Boyne River south west of Gladstone, the Awoonga Dam is a rockfill structure with a concrete upstream face slab. The embankment was formed from rock excavated from a quarry on the eastern side of the dam wall. The embankment is over 650 metres in length and 54.4 metres in height, with a volume of approximately 2 million cubic metres of rock. The spillway’s height is 40 metres AHD. This design of the current dam allows for further raising, if necessary, through the addition of gates to the top of the spillway. The current capacity of the dam is 777,000 megalitres.

[edit] Activities

Swimming is permitted from the shore and there is a boat ramp that provides access for sailing, fishing, and skiing etc. Various watercraft, including house boats can be hired and organised. Fishing cruises are also available. ^[2]

The waters of Lake Awoonga are controlled by Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol and Queensland Water Police.

The lake is a popular fishing spot, especially for Barramundi. The Barramundi closed season does not apply to Lake Awoonga, although some limits do apply:

[edit] Fauna

Lake Awoonga is home to a thriving array of small animals, several of which are of conservation significance. Aquatic vegetation maintains an array of small animals that support the fish, eels, turtles, platypus and birds. Other species of birds, reptiles, and native fauna including bandicoots, rufous bettongs, kangaroos, wallabies, Greater Gliders, Yellow-bellied Gliders, and brushtail possums can be found around the lake.

Lake Awoonga hosts more than 210 species of birds and is ideal for ornithology. Species include the southern squatter pigeon (listed as of conservation significance) and a further twenty-two bird species listed on International Migratory Conservation Agreement Lists.^{[Aust Govt Dept of the Environment & Heritage]}

The Gladstone Area Water Board has a fish breeding program in place and breeds Barramundi, Mangrove Jack and Mullet for stocking into Lake Awoongaas well as some of the surrounding waterways. Approximately 300,000 fish are released into Lake Awoonga each year (200,000 Barramundi and 100,000 Mullet, and small numbers of Mangrove Jack). The fish are bred at a purpose-built fish hatchery, operated jointly by the Gladstone Area Water Board and the Central Queensland Ports Authority. The hatchery is one of the largest breeders of barramundi fingerlings in Queensland and their mangrove jack breeding program has resulted in Lake Awoonga holding the largest stocks in Australia with over 13,000 released. ^[3]

Lake Awoonga fish include Agassiz's Glass Perch, Banded Grunter, Barramundi, Bony Bream, Eastern Rainbowfish, Eeltail catfish, Fly-specked Hardyhead, Forktail Catfish, Gudgeon, Long-finned Eel, Longtom, Mouth Almighty, Sea Mullet, Snub-nose Garfish, Spangled Perch. (Present in low numbers: Hyrtl’s Tandan, Mangrove Jack, Saratoga, Silver Perch, Sleepy Cod, Sooty grunter, and Yellowbelly) ^[4]

Since 1996 over 2.5 million barramundi fingerlings and 470,000 mullet fingerlings have been released into Lake Awoonga. Barramundi in the 10-25kg range are regularly caught from the lake.^[5]

The Gladstone Area Water Board has a continuing fishery monitoring program in place using net surveys, to evaluate the success of the restocking effort. Although not deliberately stocked, redclaw crayfish have become well established at the lake. ^[6]

Images of vulnerable species found in the region:

Squatter Pigeons

Grey-headed Flying Fox

Yellow-bellied Glider

Images of other fauna found in the region:

Whip or Pretty-face Wallaby	Children's Python	Flying Fox	Little Friarbird
Brown Honeyeater	White-breasted Woodswallow	Rainbow Lorikeet	Laughing Kookaburra
Brahminy Kite	Blue-faced Honeyeater (juvenile)	White-faced Heron	Whistling Kite

[edit] Fact sheet

At full the lake is 40m (111 feet) above sea level
Approximately 300,000 fish are released each year including 200,000 Barramundi, 100,000 mullet and some mangrove jack. By early 2006 a total of over 2.8 million fish had been released into Lake Awoonga including 2.4 Barramundi, 470,000 sea mullet and 13,000 mangrove jack. (These fish were bred at Gladstone Area Water Board's Fish Hatchery facility.)
The largest Barramundi caught (as of April 2008) weighed in at a 33.3kg (73 lbs)
Lake Awoonga is one of the only dams in Queensland to have been stocked with Mangrove Jack
Lake Awoonga was voted the #1 impounded fishing lake in Australia for Barramundi (As voted by media personality, Paul Worsteling, host of the "I Fish" TV program, who stated that "Awoonga Dam is the best barramundi fishing dam in Australia.") and one of the top ten impounded fishing lakes in the world.

[edit] Facilities at Lake Awoonga Main Recreation Area

Boat ramp
Boat hire (including houseboats, sailing, canoeing and skiing)
Caravan park and camping grounds
Café
Walking trails
Lookouts
Parking
Children's playgrounds
Picnic and barbecue facilities
Parking and toilet for the disabled

Camping is permitted at two places on Lake Awoonga, the Caravan Park and the Boynedale Bush Camp.

Some of the shelters at Lake Awoonga

Ironbark Gully recreation area

A recreation shelter overlooking the lake.

Kalinda Cafe

[edit] Facilities at Boynedale Bush Camp

The Boynedale Bush camp is a basic camping facility around the southern side of Lake Awoonga, ten minutes from the townships of Many Peaks and Ubobo.

Facilities include:

Nearby boat access
Lookout
Basic bush-camping facilities including fire-rings
Composting toilets
Wheely-bins with regular pick-ups

Please note that there is NO potable water at the Boynedale Bush camp - visitors should bring their own water supply.

Note also that access roads are unsealed and may become slippery or boggy during wet weather.

Visitors are discouraged from bringing pets to the area as Lake Awoonga is a wildlife sanctuary. Small dogs may be allowed at the bush camp, but must be kept strictly under control at all times.

There is no electricity supply - portable generators are allowed as long as they don’t disturb other campers.