Lake George and Lake Bathurst
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The Mayos
May 19, 2012, 5:37:30 PM5/19/12
to aust...@googlegroups.com
A picture
from Lake Bathurst near Canberra yesterday, with some water still
there.
Just for
interest's sake, I found this reference to a book which mentions that both
Lake Bathurst and George were dry in 1837.
Judy
Thomas Walker - A Month in the Bush of Australia
Excerpt from: Thomas Walker, A Month in the Bush of Australia: Journal of one of a party of gentlemen who recently travelled from Sydney to Port Philip: with some remarks on the present state of the farming establishments and society in the settled parts of the Argyle country. J. Cross, London, 1838, pp. 7-10.
Walker mentions pioneer pastoralists Dr Andrew Gibson of Tirranna, near Goulburn NSW – William Faithful of Springfield, near Goulburn – John Gore of Gilmour, Lake Bathurst - James McFarlane of Inveralochy, Goulburn Plains -Terence Aubrey Murray at Winderadeen, Collector NSW and Cornelius O’Brien of Cooma Cottage, Yass; landform, vegetation, farming and grazing around Yass, Gundaroo, Lake George and Lake Bathurst NSW, both dry in 1837.
Gavin O'Brien
May 20, 2012, 3:42:50 AM5/20/12
to aust...@googlegroups.com
Hi Judy,
I have had a keen interest in Lake George and Lake Bathurst since the late 1960's when I first visited the region.I went to school at a boarding school in the village of Galong , near Harden from 1956 to 1960 .There were quite a few students who came from Canberra .They had some very interesting tales to tell about Lake George. In 1956 it was full, indeed people boated on it.There was no Lake Burley Griffin at the time and the Lake was the only sizable body of water near to Canberra .Sadly some RMC cadets were drowned when their boat capsized during a squall on the lake.I first visited Lake George in 1968 and the water level was quite close to the old Federal Highway. By the Early 1970's (1974?) the Lake was dry.I decided to see if I could drive across the bed as I could see tyre tracks going out from the Highway. The night before I could see distant lightning in the Lake's direction from Page in Canberra but thought that any storms would not have affected the Lake - I was wrong! Anyway I decided to drive across the afternoon of the next day but got stuck about halfway across.I ended up walking back to the old Service Station and Restaurant then located about 6 miles past Geary's Gap towards Canberra . I rang the towing service and a tow truck from Canberra was dispatched .He picked me up and we went down to the old picnic area where there was access into the bed of the Lake.Sadly the tow truck hit a rock, breaking a steering rod and was put out of action! Being below the Escarpment, the truck's two way radio could not communicate with the shop back in Fyshwick.The driver then got a lift up to the servo and yes, another tow truck came out, pulled the other back up to the road, then using a very long tow rope pulled my car back onto firm ground.(This was a very expensive experience and quite hurt bmy hip pocket! ) The lake surface was sandy with heavy clay crust under it. A thin wiry grass grew on the surface at the time.The soil was saline.( I took a sample and we tested it!) Twelve months later following the massive flood events of late 1974 to early 1975, the Lake was again full. Where my car was bogged, there was now at least 3 metres of water! By the early 1980's the Lake was bone dry again with massive dust storms which I witnessed several times when driving past. I did drive around to the eastern side of Lake George and also to Lake Bathurst during the big dry of the early 1970's . I found some very salty water "off shore" in the far southeast side which seems to be the deepest part of Lake George .This would not ahve been visible from the Highway . Lake Bathurst was dry and the description in the account you posted was absolutely spot on.There is an "island" (Rabbit Island) in the southeast side of the Lake but when I walked across, it was merely a large mound of boulders with trees growing on it. I did later see the Lake (Bathurst) full and it was a very pretty sight. There was the ruins of the old rowing sheds on the shoreline in the 1970's but I doubt they would still be there today.On my last trip around the end of April you could see the water well out to the east and from the air the Lake seems to cover about half its full extent.The last few months have been very dry around Canberra so unless we have a very wet spell, it is unlikely the Lake will fill in the near future.
Does anyone know if there are any records of the lake's levels since white setlement?
Gavin,
Gilmore ACT
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Blair Trewin
May 20, 2012, 7:44:53 AM5/20/12
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I assume there are reasonable records of Lake George somewhere but don't know where. The impression I get is that it responds to rainfall anomalies on a timescale of a few years. I believe it was dry or nearly dry for large parts of the 1920s and 1930s.
In addition to Gavin's stories, one which sticks in my mind is that in late 1982 (when it was dry for a few months), the ACT Cross Country Club ran a race across it. Unfortunately I was a bit young to take part.
Blair
From: aust...@googlegroups.com [aust...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Gavin O'Brien [southsi...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, 20 May 2012 5:42 PM
To: aust...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [austpacwx] Lake George and Lake Bathurst
soil
May 21, 2012, 8:09:30 PM5/21/12
to austpacwx
There are a group of reading if you try www.scholar.google.com and
enter lake george and lake levels, including:
Late Cainozoic History of Vegetation, Fire, Lake Levels and Climate,
at Lake George, New South Wales, Australia
G. Singh and Elizabeth A. Geissler
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B,
Biological Sciences
Vol. 311, No. 1151 (Dec. 3, 1985), pp. 379-447
Published by: The Royal Society
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2398672
In part it says:
It is inferred that periods of considerably lower precipitation than
at present prevailed during the glacial maxima. Conversely, periods of
higher precipitation than at present occurred for some considerable
lengths of time during the interglacials. In general terms, the
precipitation levels increased during both interglacials and
interstadials with respect to glacial maxima. The plant microfossil
evidence indicates that Eucalyptus- dominated, dry sclerophyll (low,
open) forests, now growing in the lake catchment, and probably
elsewhere in southeastern Australia are the result of a comparatively
recent development. It is shown that the relatively 'fire-sensitive'
Casuarina-dominated forests, combined with several equally or more
'fire-sensitive' rainforest taxa, dominated the vegetation for at
least half a million years during all but the last two interglacials.
The relatively 'fire-tolerant', Eucalyptus-dominated forests started
to expand onwards from the last interglacial, some 130 000 years ago,
in conjunction with large increases in the amount of charcoal in the
sediment. Since then, not only did the amount of charcoal remain at a
generally high level but the overall dominance of open, eucalypt
forest is maintained throughout during the warmer periods except for a
cool-temperate interstadial interval (zone D) during the last glacial.
The 'fire-sensitive' Casuarina (under 23 μm type) as well as all the
rainforest taxa declined at the end of the last glacial and finally
disappeared from the lake catchment during the Holocene, culminating
in the total extinction of Casuarina type under 23 μm during the last
few hundred years. Some of the changes in flora during the Brunhes
Chron were undoubtedly the result of long-term climatic change but
most appear to have been precipitated through increased fire-
frequencies only during the last 130 000 years (with the maximum
impact occurring during the last 10 000 years), probably on account of
the bush-firing activities of early man in Australia. This presupposes
the presence of the Aboriginal people some 90 000 years earlier than
the oldest available archaeological evidence for human occupation of
the Australian continent, a proposition that remains to be tested by
future archaeological investigations. In biogeographical terms, the
studies reveal that a number of Gondwanic taxa, commonly seen during
the late Tertiary in southeastern Australia, survived well into the
Pleistocene and finally disappeared during the late Brunhes from Lake
George.
enter lake george and lake levels, including:
Late Cainozoic History of Vegetation, Fire, Lake Levels and Climate,
at Lake George, New South Wales, Australia
G. Singh and Elizabeth A. Geissler
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B,
Biological Sciences
Vol. 311, No. 1151 (Dec. 3, 1985), pp. 379-447
Published by: The Royal Society
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2398672
In part it says:
It is inferred that periods of considerably lower precipitation than
at present prevailed during the glacial maxima. Conversely, periods of
higher precipitation than at present occurred for some considerable
lengths of time during the interglacials. In general terms, the
precipitation levels increased during both interglacials and
interstadials with respect to glacial maxima. The plant microfossil
evidence indicates that Eucalyptus- dominated, dry sclerophyll (low,
open) forests, now growing in the lake catchment, and probably
elsewhere in southeastern Australia are the result of a comparatively
recent development. It is shown that the relatively 'fire-sensitive'
Casuarina-dominated forests, combined with several equally or more
'fire-sensitive' rainforest taxa, dominated the vegetation for at
least half a million years during all but the last two interglacials.
The relatively 'fire-tolerant', Eucalyptus-dominated forests started
to expand onwards from the last interglacial, some 130 000 years ago,
in conjunction with large increases in the amount of charcoal in the
sediment. Since then, not only did the amount of charcoal remain at a
generally high level but the overall dominance of open, eucalypt
forest is maintained throughout during the warmer periods except for a
cool-temperate interstadial interval (zone D) during the last glacial.
The 'fire-sensitive' Casuarina (under 23 μm type) as well as all the
rainforest taxa declined at the end of the last glacial and finally
disappeared from the lake catchment during the Holocene, culminating
in the total extinction of Casuarina type under 23 μm during the last
few hundred years. Some of the changes in flora during the Brunhes
Chron were undoubtedly the result of long-term climatic change but
most appear to have been precipitated through increased fire-
frequencies only during the last 130 000 years (with the maximum
impact occurring during the last 10 000 years), probably on account of
the bush-firing activities of early man in Australia. This presupposes
the presence of the Aboriginal people some 90 000 years earlier than
the oldest available archaeological evidence for human occupation of
the Australian continent, a proposition that remains to be tested by
future archaeological investigations. In biogeographical terms, the
studies reveal that a number of Gondwanic taxa, commonly seen during
the late Tertiary in southeastern Australia, survived well into the
Pleistocene and finally disappeared during the late Brunhes from Lake
George.
The Mayos
May 21, 2012, 11:26:34 PM5/21/12
to aust...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the links.
They are interesting and have given me a little more insight into some
distant family connections and their lives at Lake Bathurst, which was first
discovered on 3 Apr 1818, by James Meehan who wrote in his Field Book -
"The plain and marshes are open to the eastward, and on the west is a lake
exceeding ten miles in circuit; the waters from the marshy lagoons empty
themselves into a lake at which place the land is sandy and swampy with some
sort of gum trees with honeysuckle growing. The quantity of ducks andother
wild fowl on the lake and marshes are beyond description or comprehension".
On 4 Apr 1818 James Meehan and Hamilton Hume made a survey of the lake and
named it Lake Bathurst, after the Earl of Bathurst, Secretary of State for
the Colonies.
By 1825, Daniel Cooper (ex convict and Sydney Brewery owner and a distant
family connection) owned 1000 acres of land there, he then employed more of
the family to manage his property.
One of them eventually owned the land where the village of Lake Bathurst is
not situated today.
Much to my disappointment, I have learned that the original property's
records were all destroyed around the time that it was sold by Daniel
Cooper.
Judy
They are interesting and have given me a little more insight into some
distant family connections and their lives at Lake Bathurst, which was first
discovered on 3 Apr 1818, by James Meehan who wrote in his Field Book -
"The plain and marshes are open to the eastward, and on the west is a lake
exceeding ten miles in circuit; the waters from the marshy lagoons empty
themselves into a lake at which place the land is sandy and swampy with some
sort of gum trees with honeysuckle growing. The quantity of ducks andother
wild fowl on the lake and marshes are beyond description or comprehension".
On 4 Apr 1818 James Meehan and Hamilton Hume made a survey of the lake and
named it Lake Bathurst, after the Earl of Bathurst, Secretary of State for
the Colonies.
By 1825, Daniel Cooper (ex convict and Sydney Brewery owner and a distant
family connection) owned 1000 acres of land there, he then employed more of
the family to manage his property.
One of them eventually owned the land where the village of Lake Bathurst is
not situated today.
Much to my disappointment, I have learned that the original property's
records were all destroyed around the time that it was sold by Daniel
Cooper.
Judy
Rhett Blanch (auspacwx)
May 21, 2012, 8:22:28 AM5/21/12
to aust...@googlegroups.com
Hi,
There are reasonable records. I used them in an assigment when I was
doing Geography at the ANU in the mid 1990's, don't know what became of
the copy I had of them. There has been a fair bit of dendrochronology
done on the lake sediments
(http://people.rses.anu.edu.au/dedeckker_p/pubs/92.pdf) with cores going
back 350,000 years. I did a few fields trips out there and did some
digging on some of the ancient shore lines. If you are interested
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
203906715796553914708.0004c08a6c29d5e88c2cf shows where a low ridge
that was formed when the ancient lake level was much higher. It is now a
small cutting on the Highway. Interestingly it is believed that the
higher lake level was not the result of a wetter climate but rather less
evaporation during a cooler period.
The colleges and halls at ANU run Inward Bound
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inward_Bound). Once a team tried to wade
across the partially full lake to shorten their run, it was strongly not
recommended subsequently. (I can also tell you that neither is wading
across the Gudgenby River at 4am in May).
Cheers
Rhett
On Sun, 20 May 2012 21:44:53 +1000, Blair Trewin <B.Tr...@bom.gov.au>
wrote:
> FROM: aust...@googlegroups.com [aust...@googlegroups.com] On
> TO: aust...@googlegroups.com
> SUBJECT: Re: [austpacwx] Lake George and Lake Bathurst
>
> Walker mentions pioneer pastoralists Dr Andrew Gibson of _Tirranna,_
> near Goulburn NSW – William Faithful of _Springfield, _near Goulburn
> – John Gore of _Gilmour,_ Lake Bathurst - James McFarlane of
> _Inveralochy, _Goulburn Plains -Terence Aubrey Murray at
> _Winderadeen,_ Collector NSW and Cornelius O’Brien of _Cooma
> Cottage, _ Yass; landform, vegetation, farming and grazing around
> ------
> [1] mailto:sup...@iinet.net.au
> [2] http://www.canberrahistoryweb.com/thomaswalker.htm
> [3] mailto:aust...@googlegroups.com
> [4] mailto:austpacwx%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com
> [5] http://groups.google.com/group/austpacwx?hl=en
--
------------------------------
Rhett Blanch
http://weather.wilgatree.com
http://www.wilgatree.com
------------------------------
There are reasonable records. I used them in an assigment when I was
doing Geography at the ANU in the mid 1990's, don't know what became of
the copy I had of them. There has been a fair bit of dendrochronology
done on the lake sediments
(http://people.rses.anu.edu.au/dedeckker_p/pubs/92.pdf) with cores going
back 350,000 years. I did a few fields trips out there and did some
digging on some of the ancient shore lines. If you are interested
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
203906715796553914708.0004c08a6c29d5e88c2cf shows where a low ridge
that was formed when the ancient lake level was much higher. It is now a
small cutting on the Highway. Interestingly it is believed that the
higher lake level was not the result of a wetter climate but rather less
evaporation during a cooler period.
The colleges and halls at ANU run Inward Bound
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inward_Bound). Once a team tried to wade
across the partially full lake to shorten their run, it was strongly not
recommended subsequently. (I can also tell you that neither is wading
across the Gudgenby River at 4am in May).
Cheers
Rhett
On Sun, 20 May 2012 21:44:53 +1000, Blair Trewin <B.Tr...@bom.gov.au>
wrote:
> I assume there are reasonable records of Lake George somewhere but
> don't know where. The impression I get is that it responds to rainfall
> anomalies on a timescale of a few years. I believe it was dry or
> nearly dry for large parts of the 1920s and 1930s.
>
> In addition to Gavin's stories, one which sticks in my mind is that in
> late 1982 (when it was dry for a few months), the ACT Cross Country
> Club ran a race across it. Unfortunately I was a bit young to take
> part.
>
> Blair
>
> -------------------------
> don't know where. The impression I get is that it responds to rainfall
> anomalies on a timescale of a few years. I believe it was dry or
> nearly dry for large parts of the 1920s and 1930s.
>
> In addition to Gavin's stories, one which sticks in my mind is that in
> late 1982 (when it was dry for a few months), the ACT Cross Country
> Club ran a race across it. Unfortunately I was a bit young to take
> part.
>
> Blair
>
> FROM: aust...@googlegroups.com [aust...@googlegroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Gavin O'Brien [southsi...@gmail.com]
> SENT: Sunday, 20 May 2012 5:42 PM
> TO: aust...@googlegroups.com
> SUBJECT: Re: [austpacwx] Lake George and Lake Bathurst
> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 7:37 AM, The Mayos wrote:
>
> A picture from Lake Bathurst near Canberra yesterday, with some water
> still there.
>
> Just for interest's sake, I found this reference to a book which
> mentions that both Lake Bathurst and George were dry in 1837.
>
> Judy
>
> Thomas Walker - A Month in the Bush of Australia
>
> Excerpt from: Thomas Walker, _A Month in the Bush of Australia:
>
> A picture from Lake Bathurst near Canberra yesterday, with some water
> still there.
>
> Just for interest's sake, I found this reference to a book which
> mentions that both Lake Bathurst and George were dry in 1837.
>
> Judy
>
> Thomas Walker - A Month in the Bush of Australia
>
> Journal of one of a party of gentlemen who recently travelled from
> Sydney to Port Philip: with some remarks on the present state of the
> farming establishments and society in the settled parts of the Argyle
> country [2]._ J. Cross, London, 1838, pp. 7-10.
> Sydney to Port Philip: with some remarks on the present state of the
> farming establishments and society in the settled parts of the Argyle
>
> Walker mentions pioneer pastoralists Dr Andrew Gibson of _Tirranna,_
> near Goulburn NSW – William Faithful of _Springfield, _near Goulburn
> – John Gore of _Gilmour,_ Lake Bathurst - James McFarlane of
> _Inveralochy, _Goulburn Plains -Terence Aubrey Murray at
> _Winderadeen,_ Collector NSW and Cornelius O’Brien of _Cooma
> Cottage, _ Yass; landform, vegetation, farming and grazing around
> Yass, Gundaroo, Lake George and Lake Bathurst NSW, both dry in 1837.
>
>
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> ------
> [1] mailto:sup...@iinet.net.au
> [2] http://www.canberrahistoryweb.com/thomaswalker.htm
> [3] mailto:aust...@googlegroups.com
> [4] mailto:austpacwx%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com
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--
------------------------------
Rhett Blanch
http://weather.wilgatree.com
http://www.wilgatree.com
------------------------------
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