The Kow Swamp, a

freshwater 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 larger ...

and

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 ...

, was formerly a swamp, that is now used for water storage. The lake is located in the Mallee region in north-central

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.

Description

Kow Swamp lies in the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

valley, about west of the town of Gunbower and south of the town of

Leitchville Leitchville is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Gannawarra local government area, 262 kilometres from the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Leitchville had a population of 558. History The district was ...

and also the Murray River, in the

Shire of Campaspe The Shire of Campaspe is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 37,592. It includes the towns of Girgarre, Echuca, Kyabram, Roch ...

. Its name comes from the Aboriginal word ''Ghow'' which refers to the white

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...

soil found at the swamp. It is a popular site for

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing fo ...

. Approximately in length and in width, the lake has a circumference of .

History

In the late 19th century Kow Swamp was managed by local

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

trusts for off-river storage. In 1900 the capacity was increased to .

Archaeology

Kow Swamp is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

which has produced human skeletal remains dating from the late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

, over 10,000 years ago.

References

Lakes of Victoria (Australia) Murray-Darling basin Mallee (Victoria) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub