Lake Burbury

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Lake Burbury
Location West Coast Range, Tasmania
Coordinates 42°07′S 145°40′E / 42.117°S 145.667°E / -42.117; 145.667Coordinates: 42°07′S 145°40′E / 42.117°S 145.667°E / -42.117; 145.667
Type reservoir
Basin countries Australia
Surface area 54 km²

Lake Burbury 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. Its waters feed the John Butters Hydroelectric Power Station.

It was named after Stanley Burbury former Governor of Tasmania.

The lake is fed mainly by rivers from the north, including the upper King River, and the Eldon River.[1] Valleys that open to the area include the Linda Valley. It also has a natural lake just north of its northern shore known as Lake Beatrice which is at the eastern end of Mount Sedgwick. It has a surface area of 54 square kilometres.

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'[2] 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.

Crotty Dam and Lake Burbury have been identified as Indicative places on the Register of the National Estate [3]

The lake lies to the west of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and has a series of buffer zone conservation areas - The Princess River Conservation Area, and the Crotty Conservation Area on the east shore, and the West Coast Range Regional Reserve on the west. The Hydro jurisdiction of the lake is to the 242 metre elevation ( the full supply level being 235 metres) round the edge of the lake, as well as the island created by the impoundment.[4]

A webcam is located on the south east shore of the lake which looks across to where the Lyell Highway emerges from the Linda Valley and moves south around the eastern base of Mount Owen. [5]

Notes

  1. ↑ The smaller rivers on the eastern shore include the Princess River, Nelson River; to the west the Comstock Creek flows in from the valley between Mount Lyell and Mount Sedgwick - see the Tasmania 1:100 000 map Franklin Sheet 8013 Edition 6 1997
  2. ↑ Named after the family that owned and operated the sawmill that was inundated at Princess River
  3. ↑ Australian Heritage Database entry
  4. ↑ The information in this paragraph comes from the Tasmap map Owen 3833, 1: 25 000 series, edition 2, 2001, for larger scale perspective Lake Burbury is found in full in the 1: 100 000 Tasmap Map Franklin, 8013, edition 6
  5. ↑ http://anglersalliance.org.au/web-cams/lake-burbury-webcam/ - the webcam is supported by the Anglers Alliance Tasmania and the government http://www.ifs.tas.gov.au

References

  • Blainey, Geoffrey (2000). The Peaks of Lyell (6th ed. ed.). Hobart: St. David's Park Publishing. ISBN 0-7246-2265-9. 
  • Rae, Lou (2001). The Abt Railway and Railways of the Lyell region. Sandy Bay: Lou Rae. ISBN 0-9592098-7-5. 
  • Whitham, Charles (2003). Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty (Reprint 2003 ed.). 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. 

External links

  • Lake Burbury HEC regulations sign

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