Lake Argyle

The Lake Argyle is located about 70 km south of the town of Kununurra on the eastern edge of the Kimberley region in the state of Western Australia in Australia. It is measured at the storage space, Australia's second largest freshwater reservoir after the Gordon Lake / Lake Pedder system, and the largest reservoir, measured at the water surface. The lake is normally about 740-1000 km ².

Formation by dam construction

The Lake Argyle was born 1971/1972 by building a dam on the river Ord River. This is visible on the satellite image as a dark - meandering line. It flows north and eventually flows into the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. In addition to the Ord River and the Bow River flows from the south to the reservoir. To the west of the reservoir are the sandstone formations of the Carr Boyd Ranges, on the east side of lower hills.

The 1972 completed dam is a Erdschüttdamm. The ratio between the volume of the dam to the memory space of the lake is the cheapest and most efficient of all dams in Australia.

The storage capacity of Lake Argyle to overflow at the spillway is 10,763 million cubic meters. 1973, the reservoir was filled for the first time, and remained so until 1984. Since there was not enough rainfall to use the full capacity. The usable memory space is 5797 million cubic meters. During floods, the then overflowing reservoir can 35,000 million m³ grasp and cover an area of up to 2072 km ².

Landscape and geology

The damming of the Ord River has brought major changes to the environment. The outflow in the Ord River was markedly reduced. In the reservoir, a new well thriving ecosystem has developed. The lake has 26 species of fish, the population of the freshwater crocodile is estimated at 25,000. The rise of the water level has converted a series of rocky ridges in islands. There you can sometimes see the crocodiles and a variety of birds; about 265 species in the area of ​​Lake Argyle are documented, especially in the flat alluvial plain at the southern end, where the Ord River and Bow River come together and form a common delta.

Sandstone dominated in the Carr Boyd Ranges. A geological feature is the zebra stone, a microcrystalline sandstone with zebra - stripe pattern, which only at a single site world - the Miriuwung Gajerrong peninsula on the east shore of Lake Argyle - occurs. South of Kununurra there is a gallery, will be processed and sold in the craft items from this rare stone.

Economic use

The Lake Argyle, together with the 10 years before 55 km upstream through the Ord River Diversion Dam created Lake Kununurra, the basis of the Ord River irrigation system (so-called ORIS = Ord River Irrigation Scheme). This 150 km ² are irrigated farmland in the region of the East Kimberley; an extension of 700 km ² is planned in a construction stage since 2008.

The reservoir also serves the power generation. At the foot of the dam is the Ord Hydro Power Station, the largest generator of renewable energy in Western Australia. The 1997 completed hydroelectric power plant supplies the city Kununurra, Wyndham and the Argyle Diamond Mine at the south end of the lake. In the work of approximately 210 GWh of electricity generated annually.

Bottlenose Catfish caught Commercial (also called silver cobbler ); the income amounts to about 20,000 kg per year. In the years 1995-2005 there was also a barramundi breeding farm which produced up to 50,000 copies per year. For the larvae from Queensland were flown, pre-cultured in hatcheries outside of the lake and used for the 12 - month maturation in large cages in the lake. The farm was closed in June 2005. Natural barramundi stocks are limited at Lake Argyle, as these animals need salt water and are so far more likely to find at the lower Ord River.

Lake Argyle Village / Durack Homestead

At the north end near the dam there is a motel with restaurant, campsite and caravan park ( Lake Argyle Village ). Shortly after the tourist center is just a parking lot with views of the Ord River Dam and a small portion of the reservoir, however, the only approx. 0.5 % of the total water surface accounts ( Lake Argyle Lookout ).

This area was first settled in 1882 by Patrick Durack, an Irish immigrant and pioneer of the Western Australian cattle. From his former farm in western Queensland, he drove more than 7,000 cattle and 200 horses in the Kimberley. This three-year cattle drive was the longest and most extensive that had ever been attempted in Australia. The eponymous original family estate ( Argyle Downs, built 1895) was demolished in the flood in 1971 and rebuilt above the lake.

He was received by Patrick Duracks granddaughter Mary, author of the autobiographical family saga Kings in Grass Castles ( 1959), lived until her death in 1994 and is now a museum ( Durack Homestead ). Two rooms are devoted to the family history, another contains Aboriginal artefacts and a last equipment of the drovers.

In the garden there are the graves of family members with memorial stones and inscriptions.

Argyle Diamond Mine

The Argyle diamond mine inland at the southern end of the lake is one of the world 's largest diamond producer; million carats approximately 20 are dismantled annually.

In 1979, by the mining company CRA Ltd.. (now Rio Tinto Group ) Diamonds on Smoke Creek found. The Fund was initially kept secret, there's the now defunct African- West Mining Ltd.. the mining rights in the area had. CRA waited with the disclosure until 1983, when it had expired. 1985 began with the removal; Since then 760 million carats were unearthed. In particular, the Argyle Diamond Mine for its striking pink diamonds is known, which can achieve comparable size up to 20 times the price of white diamonds. Ground and processed, the rough diamonds in Perth and in India.

From Perth, the workers were flown before; but now (as of 2010 ) derived 80 % from the region, approximately 50% are Aboriginal. By this step, the Argyle Diamond Mine has become an important employer in the eastern Kimberley.

As part of booked tours the diamond mine can be visited by tourists.

At Limestone Creek about 30 miles away there was 1988-2005 a second diamond mine, the Bow River Diamond Mine. The mine, which employed 100 workers built each year from 1 million carats of diamonds.

Infrastructure

The dam and the Lake Argyle Village / Durack Homestead can be approached on an asphalt road from the Victoria Highway ( Junction east of Kununurra ).

In addition, no run roads and trails around the shores of the lake; the parallel long-distance routes of the ( Great Northern Highway to the west and east of Duncan Road ) are 35-50 km away, without additions branch off to the lake.

The Argyle Diamond Mine has a private airport for small aircraft. There is also a driveway on an unpaved track from the Great Northern Highway, which is the labor reserve, the inhabitants of the Argyle Village.

At the north end of the lake leave from Lake Argyle Village of tourist excursion boats.

The dimensions of the Lake Argyle are best seen from a flyover from the air, for example, on the tourist route from Kununurra to Purnululu National Park.