Lake Albacutya (

Wergaia The Wergaia or Werrigia people are an Aboriginal Australian group in the Mallee and Wimmera regions of north-Western Victoria, made up of a number of clans. The people were also known as the Maligundidj (in the Wotjobaluk language) which mea ...

: ''Ngelbakutya'') is an ephemeral lake located in Albacutya within the

Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Aust ...

region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. It is one of a series of terminal lakes on the

Wimmera River The Wimmera River, an inland intermittent river of the Wimmera catchment, is located in the Grampians and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Rising in the Pyrenees, on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the Wimme ...

, which form the largest land-locked drainage system in Victoria. Lake Albacutya is designated as a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

of international importance under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on W ...

Location and features

On the occasions that there is an overflow from

Lake Hindmarsh Lake Hindmarsh, an ephemeral lake located in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia, is the state's largest natural freshwater lake. The nearest towns are Jeparit to the south and Rainbow to the north. After more than a decade of dro ...

to the south, water enters Outlet Creek, (

: ''Krumelak'') which then feeds Lake Albacutya. When full, Lake Albacutya covers , is deep, and holds around of water. The lake generally fills and empties on a 20-year cycle, the longest dry period on record being 27 years. In 2011 it was reported that the lake had not received any inflow for some years and remained dry throughout the wetter years of 2011–2012. Being less saline than Lake Hindmarsh, Lake Albacutya supports a denser cover of vegetation during its dry phase.

References

Albacutya Wimmera catchment Ramsar sites in Australia Wimmera {{GrampiansAU-geo-stub