Lake Torrens (

Kuyani The Kuyani people, also written Guyani and other variants, and also known as the Nganitjidi, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia who speak the Kuyani language. Their traditional lands are to the west of the Flinder ...

: ''Ngarndamukia'') 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 ...

, normally

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

in central

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...

. Islands on the lake include Andamooka Island and Murdie Island, both near the western shore; Trimmer Inlet runs between Andamooka Island and the shore, and Carrapateena Arm is an

arm In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

extending westwards south of Murdie Island.

Description

Lake Torrens lies between the Arcoona Plateau to the west and the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...

to the east, about north of

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

and about north of the

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ade ...

. The lake is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

,Barker, McCaskill & Ward, p.173, 1995 with a maximum depth of 1 m. It is located within the boundaries of

Lake Torrens National Park Lake Torrens National Park is a protected area located in South Australia about north of the Adelaide city centre. Material published by the national park's manager reports that: The stark wilderness and the salt lake that stretches 250km in ...

. Lake Torrens stretches approximately in length and in average width. It is Australia's second largest lake when filled with water and encompasses an area of . Usually the Lake Torrens catchment is an

endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

, having no outflow of water to the ocean. Andamooka Island is the largest of several islands, lying along the western shore. It is a pastoral property, but an important area for birds such as the

red-capped plover The red-capped plover (''Charadrius ruficapillus''), also known as the red-capped dotterel, is a small species of plover. It breeds in Australia. This species is closely related to (and sometimes considered conspecific with) the Kentish plover, ...

and

cinnamon quail-thrush The cinnamon quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma cinnamomeum'') is cryptic arid-zone species that is endemic to Australia. This small to medium-sized species of bird is found in the arid and semi-arid regions of central Australia. Taxonomy This speci ...

, and other islands host

banded stilt The banded stilt (''Cladorhynchus leucocephalus'') is a nomadic wader of the stilt and avocet family, Recurvirostridae, native to Australia. It belongs to the monotypic genus ''Cladorhynchus''. It gets its name from the red-brown breast band fo ...

s and others. Murdie Island lies just south of Andamooka, its name of either

Barngarla The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Languag ...

origin and identified in the 1850s. Its name, along with Carrapateena, reflect "the earliest known and identifiable cultural associations to Lake Torrens", according to a 2016 court judgement. Other geographic features include Carrapateena Inlet (also called Carrapateena Arm) and Trimmer Inlet.

History

Approximately 35,000 years ago, the lake water was

fresh Fresh or FRESH may refer to: People *DJ Fresh (born 1977), UK-based drum and bass artist *DJ Fresh (producer), US-based R&B producer born Marqus Brown Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Fresh'' (1994 film), a crime film * ''Fresh'' (200 ...

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

, but has become increasingly saline since. The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the area are the

Arabunna Arabana or Arabuna is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama–Nyungan family, spoken by the Wongkanguru and Arabana people. The language is in steep decline, with an estimated 250 speakers according to 2004 NILS, to just 21 speakers f ...

peoples to the north, the

Kokatha The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language. Country Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...

to the west and the

to the east. In addition, the lake is a

sacred site Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...

to at least four peoples: the

, Kokatha, Kuyani and

Adnyamathanha The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...

peoples. However, the

Supreme Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the '' Judiciary Act 1903''. It ...

made a determination in 2016 that none of the groups would be awarded

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

to the area, as it was not possible to know which, if any, had ownership before colonisation of the area, even though the Kokatha had previously had native title. The first European to see the lake was

Edward Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica. Early life Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to ...

in 1839, who spotted the salt bed from Mount Arden at the head of the

. Eyre named the lake after Colonel Robert TorrensPlaceNames Online - South Australian State Gazetteer
Site is a searchable database. Accessed 3 April 2012. who was one of the founders of the

colony of South Australia In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. However the Kuyani people had long called the lake Ngarndamukia, meaning "shower of rain". The lake filled in 1897 and again in April 1989. The 1989 filling resulted in the lake outflowing through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the

, suggesting it likely did so in 1897 as well. It has a thin salt crust with red-brown clays beneath, which are soft and

boggy A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

. The area around the lake is sparsely vegetated with

samphire Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies. *Rock samphire, ''Crithmum maritimum'' is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Unit ...

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

and bluebush. In April 2013, the full extent of Lake Torrens was gazetted by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

as a locality with the name Lake Torrens.

Protected area status

South Australian government

The full extent of Lake Torrens has been protected as a national park under the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Protected areas of South Australia consists of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of March 2018, South Australia contains 359 sepa ...

'' since 1991.

Non-statutory arrangements

Lake Torrens is part of an area known as the ''Inland Saline Lakes'' which has been listed in the

Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA) is a list of wetlands of national importance to Australia published by the governmental agency Environment Australia. Intended to augment the list of wetlands of international importance under t ...

since at least 1995. Lake Torrens has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

known as the ''Lake Torrens Important Bird Area'' (IBA) because it supported up to 100,000 breeding

s during the major filling event of 1989. It may occasionally support over 1% of the world population of

Cinnamon quail-thrush The cinnamon quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma cinnamomeum'') is cryptic arid-zone species that is endemic to Australia. This small to medium-sized species of bird is found in the arid and semi-arid regions of central Australia. Taxonomy This speci ...

es are also common in the IBA.

Exploratory drilling for minerals

In April 2017 Kelaray, a subsidiary of mining company

Argonaut Resources The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', n ...

, secured

permission to do exploratory drilling for iron, copper and gold under the lake, intending to work with traditional owners to “preserve and protect” important sites. The area was drilled in 2007 to 2008 without obtaining permission of the Kokatha people, who then held native title (see History, above). In February 2018, the South Australian Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Court granted authority to enter and undertake mining operations (exploration) within those parts of the western area of the lake defined in an application by Argonaut. Some drilling was done in 2019, but was paused pending a technical review relating to the

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

below the lake. In September 2020, representatives of the local Kuyani and Kokatha people raised concerns about further drilling proposals. In January 2021, the state government under Steven Marshall granted permission to Kelaray to conduct drilling on the lake, over an area including Murdie Island, part of Andamooka Island, and part of Carrapateena Arm, after they had made an application under Section 23 of the ''

Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 The ''Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988'' (AHA) is the principal South Australia, South Australian legislation protecting and preserving the state's Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal heritage. It repealed and replaced the ''Aboriginal and Historic R ...

'', "to damage, disturb or interfere with any Aboriginal sites, objects or remains". Mitigation strategies to protect the environment include purpose-built mats which would be used on the lake's surface to "protect the salt crust" from vehicles travelling over it, and the company intends to consult regularly with Aboriginal representatives. However Kuyani woman Regina McKenzie expressed concerns that her people were not consulted and no cultural assessments were made. The work, scheduled to begin in 2021, would "target iron oxide copper-gold ( IOCG) copper mineralisation", similar to mines at Olympic Dam and

Carrapateena mine The Carrapateena mine is a large copper mine under development in South Australia's Far North region 100 km southeast of Olympic Dam and approximately 160km north of Port Augusta. Carrapateena represents one of the largest copper reserves in Au ...

s. It has been called the Murdie project in Argonaut's documentation. Drilling was set to start from 15 March 2021, despite recommendations against doing so being provided to Marshall (who is also Aboriginal Affairs minister) by the state-government-appointed Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation and the

State Aboriginal Heritage Committee State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

(SAHC) and Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation (part of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet). 20 semi-trailer trucks delivered accommodation units and equipment to Murdie Island in preparation. In the same week, the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation launched legal action to put a stop to the drilling, on the grounds that it is "one of the most significant cultural sites in South Australia". In August 2022, the

Chief Justice of South Australia Of the judges of the Supreme Court of South Australia, , 14 had previously served in the Parliament of South Australia Edward Gwynne, Sir Richard Hanson, Randolph Stow, Sir Samuel Way, Sir James Boucaut, Richard Andrews, Sir William Bundey, S ...

, Chris Kourakis, overturned Marshall's decision, citing concerns that Kelaray's heritage plan and procedures would "substantially detract" from the state’s Aboriginal heritage laws.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Torrens Far North (South Australia) Torrens DIWA-listed wetlands Torrens family