Lake Callabonna

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Lake Callabonna from space

Lake Callabonna is a dry salt lake with little to no vegetation in northeastern South Australia, approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi) southwest of the junction of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales at Cameron Corner. It is an important site for late Pleistocene fossils. It forms part of the Strzelecki Desert Lakes Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for waterbirds when holding water in the aftermath of floods. [1]

History

The first pastoralists in the area were the Ragless brothers in 1881, who moved there from the northern Flinders Ranges, opening a sheep-run. In January 1892 Fred Ragless came across a number of giant skeletons embedded in the dry surface of the lake. An expedition partly funded by Sir Thomas Elder and E. C. Stirling, director of the South Australian Museum, was organised. After several visits, Stirling and A. H. Zietz collected a large number of diprotodon and dromornithidae skeletons. The area was designated a Fossil Reserve in 1901, and access is restricted.

References

  1. ↑ "IBA: Strzelecki Desert Lakes". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 2011-10-25. 

External links

Coordinates: 29°41′S 140°03′E / 29.683°S 140.050°E / -29.683; 140.050


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