Lake Gregory (Western Australia)
| Lake Gregory | |
|---|---|
| Paraku (Walmajarri) Error {{native name checker}}: parameter value is malformed (help) | |
 Lake Gregory from space, September 1993. The main body of the lake appears bluish-turquoise in the center of the picture. The multi-braided channels (upper right) that feed water into Lake Gregory from the northeast are part of the Sturt Creek drainage system. There appears to be an excess of standing water in the channels (muddy-looking, yellowish) north and west of the main part of the lake. The surrounding landscape consists of grasslands with numerous sand ridges (thin, dark, parallel lines on the lower left side of the image). | |
  Lake Gregory Location in Western Australia | |
| Location | Kimberley, Western Australia |
| Coordinates | 20°12′S 127°27′E / 20.200°S 127.450°E |
| Type | Freshwater |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| References | [1] |
Lake Gregory, or Paraku in the Walmajarri language,[2] is a permanent freshwater lake located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, situated between the Great Sandy Desert and the Tanami Desert. It is usually fresh water, but can become saline after a number of dry years.
Lake Gregory is situated on the edge of Mulan Aboriginal Community, home to the Walmajarri people. It is a traditional site to the people, containing several culturally significant sites. The Paraku Indigenous Protected Area works with traditional owners and rangers to monitor and maintain the lake and its surroundings.[3]
The lake appeared as Gregory's Salt Sea on Alfred Canning's map of the area when he was surveying for the Canning Stock Route. It is named to honour the explorer Augustus Gregory who traversed the area in 1856.[4]
The lake was once part of a vast inland sea some ten times larger than the current lake around 300,000 years ago. It is now part of a larger system of freshwater and salt water lakes fed by Sturt Creek.[4]
The fertile country around the lake and river systems provided an abundant source of plant and animal life that attracted the attention of the pastoral industry in the early 1900s. Billiluna Station was established along the shores of the lake and the Canning Stock Route was established from Billiluna south to the rail-head at Wiluna to transport cattle from all over the east Kimberley.[4]
Birds
The lake serves as a major migratory stop-over area for a variety of shorebirds. It also provides a major breeding habitat of several species of water birds, including cormorants and terns. It has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports over 1% of the world populations of hardheads, grey teals, pink-eared ducks, little black cormorants, brolgas, sharp-tailed sandpipers. It sometimes supports similarly important numbers of magpie geese, Pacific black ducks, freckled ducks and Oriental plovers, as well as providing habitat for Australian bustards.[5]
See also
References
- ^ "Lake Gregory". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
- ^ Monroe, M. H. (20 November 2013). "Aboriginal Occupation - Populating the Continent - Desert". Australia: The Land Where Time Began. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^ Shain, Kathryn (22 December 2004). "Paraku Indigenous Protected Area". Agreements, treaties and negotiated settlements project. Indigenous Studies Program, The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
- ^ a b c "Paruka - Lake Gregory - Gregory's Salt Sea". Mira Canning Stock Route Archive Project. 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
- ^ "IBA: Lake Gregory/Paraku". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
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