| Lake Barlee | |
|---|---|
| Satellite image | |
| Location | Paynes Find, Western Australia |
| Lake type | intermittent salt lake |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Max. length | approximately 80 km |
| Max. width | approximately 100 km |
Lake Barlee is an intermittent salt lake in Western Australia. It is about 150 km east of Paynes Find and west of Leonora on the border between the Shires of Sandstone and Menzies. Lake Barlee is more than 100 km wide from west to east, and about 80 km wide from north to south. The lake is usually dry. It fills about once every ten years on average, after which the water persists for a little less than a year. When it is inundated it becomes an important breeding site for waterbirds.
Lake Barlee was discovered by John Forrest in 1869. Forrest's party, who were searching for the long lost explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, became bogged while trying to cross the salt lake on 19 March. After extracting their horses from the bog, they skirted the lake for nearly a week. On 25 March, Forrest climbed a hill in the area and saw the great extent of the lake. He then named it after Frederick Barlee, the Colonial Secretary of Western Australia.
Lake Barlee, along with some small satellite lakes, has been identified by BirdLife International as a 1937 km2 Important Bird Area (IBA) because it has supported one of the largest recorded breeding events of the Banded Stilt, with 179,000 nests counted.[1] Other waterbirds known to have bred at the lake are Black Swans, Australian Shelducks, Pink-eared Ducks, White-headed Stilts and Red-capped Plovers.[2]