The Burdekin Falls Dam, also known as the Burdekin Dam, is a concrete

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...

with an uncontrolled spillway across the

Burdekin River The Burdekin River is a river in North and Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises on the northern slopes of Boulder Mountain at Valley of Lagoons, part of the western slope of the Seaview Range, and flows into the Coral Sea at Upsta ...

in the Whitsunday Region,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. Built for the purpose of

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) 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 bee ...

, the

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

is called Lake Dalrymple, and is on the boundary of the Whitsunday Region and the

Charters Towers Region The Charters Towers Region is a local government area in North Queensland, Australia southwest of, and inland from the city of Townsville, based in Charters Towers. Established in 2008, it was preceded by two previous local government areas whic ...

. Burdekin Falls Dam is managed by SunWater. Water from the reservoir is also used to replenish downstream

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

Location and features

The dam wall is long and has a

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

, and a drop of . The reservoir holds at full capacity. The design allows for future storage capacity increases and potential for hydro-electricity generation. , plans are in place to increase the safety of this dam in an extreme rainfall event by raising the spillway height by increasing the storage capacity of the dam by or 31 per cent. The

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

for the dam extends north to the Seaview Range west of Ingham, south to the Drummond Range near

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

through the Suttor and

Belyando River The Belyando River, including the Belyando River (Western Branch), is a river system in Central Queensland, Australia. At in length and with a catchment area of , the Belyando River system is one of the longest rivers in Queensland. It is pro ...

s, southeast to the coastal ranges west of Mackay, and west beyond

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

to the Lolworth, Montgomery and Stopem Blockem Ranges through the Clarke River.

History

Construction of the dam began in 1984. It was completed by Leighton Contractors in 1987 and is the largest lake in the state, with a capacity four times that of

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

. The lake filled after the wet season in 1988.

Irrigation

The Burdekin River Irrigation Area was granted approval in 1980. It is Queensland's largest land and

water conservation Water conservation aims to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, protect the hydrosphere, and meet current and future human demand. Water conservation makes it possible to avoid water scarcity. It covers all the policies, strateg ...

scheme. In 2007, the scheme was supplying of land located about inland from

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

with water to grow a range of crops including

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, cotton and rice.

Proposed hydroelectricity

In 2012,

Stanwell Corporation Stanwell Corporation is a Queensland Government-owned corporation (GOC), the State's largest electricity generator producing more than a third of Queensland's energy needs. It's also one of the top three energy generators in Australia. Stanwel ...

undertook a feasibility study into a proposed

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

below the dam wall. It was proposed it would be capable of producing annually, enough to power more than 9,500 homes each year. As at March 2025, construction of a power plant is scheduled to commence in 2026 and is expected to begin operating in 2028.

Boating

There are no boating restrictions, with a single boat ramp located near the dam wall. Water in the lake is often muddied with unsettled

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

long after the rains have washed it into the lake. This not only makes angling difficult but also means boating can be hazardous at high speeds due to the presence of submerged rocks.

Fauna and flora

The lake has been stocked with sleepy cod, sooty grunter and

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer''), Asian sea bass, or giant sea perch (also known as dangri, apahap or siakap) is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Carangiformes. The species is widely distributed in the I ...

. Numerous other species are present naturally, including forktail catfish, spangled perch, eel-tailed catfish, long tom,

golden perch The golden perch (''Macquaria ambigua'') is a medium-sized, yellow or gold-coloured species of Australian freshwater fish found primarily in the Murray-Darling River system, though a subspecies is found in the Lake Eyre-Cooper Creek system, an ...

and archer fish. A "Stocked Impoundment Permit" is required to fish in the dam.

Red-claw crayfish ''Cherax quadricarinatus'' (known by several common names, including Australian red claw crayfish, Queensland red claw, redclaw, tropical blue crayfish, freshwater blueclaw crayfish) is an Australian freshwater crayfish. Distribution and ecolog ...

and

freshwater crocodile The freshwater crocodile (''Crocodylus johnstoni)'', also known Common name, commonly as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnstone's crocodile, and the freshie, is a species of crocodile native to the northern regions of Australia. Unlike ...

s, although not native to this river, may also found in the lake. These were probably released by people who caught them from rivers of the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia. It is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea, which separates Australia and New Guinea. The northern boundary ...

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It ha ...

s are commonly known to take cattle from the reaches of both Burdekin and Suttor river sections of Lake Dalrymple reaches of the dam.

Awards

In 2009 as part of the

Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia ...

celebrations, the Burdekin Falls Dam was announced as one of the

Q150 Icons The Queensland's Q150 Icons list of cultural icons was compiled as part of Q150 celebrations in 2009 by the Government of Queensland, Australia. It represented the people, places and events that were significant to Queensland Queensland ...

of Queensland for its role as a "structure and engineering feat".

References

External links

Pictures- National Library of Australia

More historical Photos
from the NQ Dry Tropics
Burdekin Falls Dam Fishing Information & Map
{{WaterQueensland , state=autocollapse Reservoirs in Queensland Dams completed in 1987 1987 establishments in Australia Dams in Queensland Charters Towers Region Whitsunday Region Gravity dams Burdekin River