Lake Narracan is an

artificial lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

on the Latrobe River built to supply cooling water for the nearby

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

-fired power stations.

Location

Lake Narracan is located on the Latrobe River in the

Latrobe Valley The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Brayakaulung of the Gunai nation. The district lies east of Melbourne and nes ...

. The dam wall is approximately 1.5 km upstream of the

Yallourn Power Station The Yallourn Power Station, now owned by EnergyAustralia a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong-Kong-based CLP Group, is located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia, beside the Latrobe River, with the company town of Yallourn located to ...

. Its upper reaches are approximately 6 km further to the west, close to where the

Narracan Creek The electoral district of Narracan is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly in Australia. It was first proclaimed in 1967 and has usually been held by the Liberal Party. The electorate covers the provincial Warragul- Droui ...

meets the Latrobe River. The lake was formerly called the Yallourn Storage Dam.

History

The reservoir was first constructed by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria between 1959 and 1961 and has the capacity of 8,600 megalitres (ML). In 2002 major works were undertaken to bring the reservoir up to modern day standards, including anchoring the dam wall to the foundation bedrock and strengthening the four gates.

Purpose

The dam supplies water for cooling the generators of the power stations in the Latrobe Valley. This supply is supplemented with water from Blue Rock Lake approximately 15 km upstream on the

Tanjil River The Tanjil River is a perennial river of the West Gippsland catchment, located in the West Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. Course and features Formed by the confluence of the Tanjil River West Branch that drains the easte ...

Recreational activities

Lake Narracan is the largest freshwater lake in Victoria that does not serve as a domestic water storage. It is used for recreational purposes, including

waterskiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffici ...

jet skiing A personal watercraft (PWC), also called water scooter or jet ski, is a recreational watercraft that a rider sits or stands on, not within, as in a boat. PWCs have two style categories, first and most popular being a runabout or "sit down" whe ...

, swimming, recreational fishing, and bush walking on the shore. A school camp (Woorabinda), on the northern shore of the lake, offers facilities for around 75 people. On the southern shore there is a caravan park and campground. The Moe Golf Club is also located on the southern shore, with a number of holes overlooking Lake Narracan. The Latrobe Valley Model Aero Club is also located on the lake shore. The Hovercraft Club of Victoria uses the west end of the lake. The Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail passes close by the southern shore of the lake and the Halls Bay Loop track was installed connecting the Rail Trail with South Shore Road.

References

Lakes of Victoria (Australia) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub