Lake Gordon is a man-made
reservoir created by the
Gordon Dam, located on the upper reaches of the
Gordon River in the
south-west
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
region of
Tasmania,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
Features
The reservoir was formed in the early 1970s as a result of the dam construction by the
Hydro-Electricity Commission of Tasmania in order to create an upper storage for the
Gordon Power Station
The Gordon Power Station is the largest Hydroelectricity#Conventional (dams), conventional hydroelectric power station in Tasmania, Australia; located in the South West Tasmania, South West region of the state. The power station is situated on ...
, the largest and most controversial
hydro-electric power scheme in Tasmania.
Drawing from a catchment area of , Lake Gordon is Tasmania's largest lake, with a surface area of , with storage capacity of
or of water, the equivalent of twenty-five times the amount of water in
Port Jackson.
Lake Pedder is connected to Lake Gordon through the McPartlans Pass Canal at .
Controversy
Additional dams were proposed for the lower Gordon River, however they were subject to political protest led by
The Wilderness Society, most notably the
Franklin Dam controversy during the early 1980s. In 1983 the
Hawke-led
Australian Government intervened and overturned a decision by the Tasmanian Government to dam the lower Gordon. When the Tasmanian Government refused to halt work in the
UNESCO-listed
World Heritage Area, the Australian Government successfully sought a ruling in the
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established fol ...
in ''
Commonwealth v Tasmania''. The lower Gordon was not dammed.
Tasmanian Energy Crisis
In early 2016, the lowest ever water supply levels in the lake were recorded during the
2016 Tasmanian energy crisis
The 2016 Tasmanian energy crisis was an ongoing energy storage situation in the state of Tasmania, Australia in 2016. Two years of high volumes of energy exported to Victoria via the Basslink HVDC cable, followed by low rainfall, and a fault whi ...
.
See also
*
List of reservoirs and dams in Tasmania
*
List of lakes in Tasmania
References
Gordon
Gordon River, Tasmania
2016 Tasmanian energy crisis
Gordon River power development scheme
Reservoirs in Tasmania
...
{{Tasmania-geo-stub