Lake Carnegie is a large

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the

Shire of Wiluna The Shire of Wiluna is a local government area in the Mid West region of Western Australia, about northeast of the state capital, Perth. The Shire covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Wiluna. History The Wiluna Roa ...

in the Goldfields-Esperance region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The lake is named after David Carnegie, who explored much of inland Western Australia in the 1890s. A similar lake lies to its south east -

Lake Wells Lake Wells is an ephemeral salt lake in the centre of Western Australia, lying in close proximity to Lake Carnegie. It lies east of Wiluna and is at the southern edge of the Little Sandy Desert and south western border of the Gibson Desert. It al ...

Description

Lake Carnegie is predominately surrounded by desert environments. It lies east of Wiluna and is at the southern edge of the Little Sandy Desert and south western border of the

Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...

. It is to the north-east of Leonora. It also lies to the north west of the

Great Central Road The Great Central Road is a mostly unsealed Australian outback highway that runs from Laverton, Western Australia to Yulara, Northern Territory (near Uluru / Ayers Rock). It passes through a number of small communities on the way. History The ...

and the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cros ...

. It lies to the north of the main goldfields region of Western Australia. The lake is approximately in length and approximately at its widest part. It has a total area of approximately , making it one of the largest lakes in Australia. The surface elevation is above mean sea-level. It fills with water only during very rare periods of significant rainfall, such as during the huge 1900 floods and in numerous recent tropical

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

s when the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

and

tropical cyclones A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...

have been moved south by recent

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. In dry years, it is reduced to a muddy

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

. In 1973 Tropical Cyclone Kerry crossed the north-west coast and moved south-west as far as the northern

goldfields Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to: Places * Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States * Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States * Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...

. Nearby pastoral leases such as

Windidda Windidda Station, often referred to as Windidda, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station. It is located about east of Wiluna and north east of Leinster in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The property occupies an a ...

Station received falls of and

Prenti Downs Prenti Downs Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is situated approximately to the east of Wiluna and north of Laverton. Neighbouring properties include Carnegie and Windi ...

received over a four-day period. The run-off was enormous, causing widespread

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing, with the Lake overflowing, leaving the area between Carnegie and Wiluna being described as "one huge lake". Water entering the lake, unlike in more easterly ''playa''s of the Australian arid zone, does not come from well-defined river channels since the soils of the region are so weathered – lacking tectonic or glacial activity since the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

s – that

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

is completely absent and the terrain so flat that only the most unweatherable rocks remain on the surface and well-defined river channels cannot form, especially since the extreme age of the soils and consequent high rooting density of native flora limits

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

to an extreme extent.

Pastoral leases

The lake area is bounded by

, Yelma, Wongawel, Niminga, Carnegie and

pastoral leases, otherwise known in Western Australia as ''stations''. - Linke's book included time living at Carnegie station, which is located to the north east of the Lake

Gallery

File:Filling up Lake Carnegie.jpeg, View from space in 2020

References

{{reflist, 30em Carnegie Carnegie

Description

Pastoral leases

Gallery

See also

References