Lake Boga () is a town in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

, located next to the lake of the same name. It is situated within the

Rural City of Swan Hill The Rural City of Swan Hill is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the north-western part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 20,759. It includes the towns of Swan Hill, Lake Boga, M ...

within

the Mallee The Mallee covers the most northwesterly part of Victoria, bounded by the South Australian and New South Wales borders. Definitions of the south-eastern boundary vary, however, all are based on the historic Victorian distribution of mallee ...

region of north-west Victoria. At the

2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

, Lake Boga had a population of 985. The town is located north west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and south east of the regional centre Swan Hill.

History

The

Wemba-Wemba The Wemba-Wemba are an Aboriginal Australian people in north-Western Victoria and south-western New South Wales, Australia, including in the Mallee and the Riverina regions. They are also known as the Wamba-Wamba. Language Wemba-Wemba bears st ...

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

people occupied the lake for thousands of years before the arrival of Major Sir Thomas Mitchell in June 1836. Two German Moravian missionaries, Reverend A.F.C. Täger and Reverend F.W. Spieseke, established

Lake Boga mission Lake Boga Mission station was established on the south-eastern shores of Lake Boga, Victoria, Australia in 1851 by the Moravian Church on the land of the Wemba-Wemba. The mission was established by two Moravian missionaries from Germany, Andreas T ...

in 1851. The mission closed in 1856 due to lack of converts, disputes with local authorities and hostilities from local landholders. The Moravian Church established a subsequent mission site near Lake Hindmarsh in 1859 (see Ebenezer Mission).Ian D. Clark, pp177-183, ''Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859'', Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 The Post Office opened on 8 August 1887. During WW2, a secret air force base was located near the town.

The town today

The town is located next to the lake of the same name, which is popular with water sports, particularly water skiing. The surrounding area is used for agriculture including fruit and vegetable growing and grain production. There is a sizable wine grape industry in the area and one local winery. There is a

PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

on display as Lake Boga was a

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

flying boat maintenance facility during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, known as the

Lake Boga Flying Boat Base Lake Boga Flying Boat Base was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flying boat base at Lake Boga, Victoria, Australia during World War II. History When the Imperial Japanese attacked Darwin and Broome in 1942 resulting in the loss of 16 f ...

. The town has an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

team competing in the

Central Murray Football League The Central Murray Football Netball League (CMFNL) is a major country Australian rules football and netball competition based in northern Victoria and southwest New South Wales in Australia. History The league was formed in 1997, combining all e ...

. Regional

water shortage Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where ...

caused by drought resulted in Lake Boga becoming completely dry. In March 2010, work began to refill the lake and by June the lake was full to the brim The lake has an approximate capacity of .

References

{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in Mallee Rural City of Swan Hill