Lake Torrens National Park

Lake Torrens National Park
Northwestern shore of Lake Torrens (drawing by John McDouall Stuart (1815–1866))
Coordinates: 31 ° 2 ′ 40 ″  S , 137 ° 51 ′ 35 ″  E
Location:	South Australia , Australia
Specialty:	salt lake
Next city:	Leigh Creek , Roxby Downs
Surface:	5,677 km²
Founding:	1991
Marienglas from the Andamooka Ranges near Lake Torrens

The Lake Torrens National Park is a national park in the center of the Australian state of South Australia , 345 km north of Adelaide , about 180 kilometers north of Port Augusta and 65 km west of Leigh Creek . The national park includes Lake Torrens , the second largest salt lake in Australia.

Geology and national nature

Lake Torrens, with an area of ​​5,700 km², is a drainless salt lake in the same rift valley as the Spencer Gulf in the south. Usually the lake is just a dry salt flat. In the last 150 years it was only filled with water once.

discovery

The salt lake was discovered in 1839 by Edward John Eyre , who believed it to be the western part of a huge, horseshoe-shaped salt pan that enclosed the Flinders Range in the north and made any access impossible. It was not until almost 20 years later, in March 1858, that AC Gergory reached the Flinders Range from the north and later that year an expedition led by Benjamin H. Babbage and Peter Warburton moved from the northwest (near the present-day town of Marree ) into the mountains. Eyres "Horseshoe Lake " actually consisted of Lake Frome , Lake Callabonna , Lake Blanche , Lake Gregory , Lake Eyre South, and Lake Torrens.

Driveway

Access to the lake is only possible with special official approval. The best option is from the west via Roxby Downs and Andamooka , where opal fields are located. Andamooka is also accessible from Leigh Creek via Lyndhurst , Farina Ruins and Mulgaria Station from the northeast.

Web links

• Lake Torrens National Park . Parks SA. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Government of South Australia

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing Pty. Ltd. Archerfield QLD (2007). ISBN 978174193232-4 . Pp. 71 + 73
2. ↑ Lake Torrens National Park . Parks SA. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Government of South Australia