Lake Frome / Munda is a large

endorheic An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

to the east of the Northern

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges 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 inhab ...

. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated salt pan, long and wide, lying mostly below

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

and having a total surface area of . It only rarely fills with brackish water flowing down usually dry creeks in the Northern Flinders Ranges from the west, or exceptional flows down the Strzelecki Creek from the north. The

Adnyamathanha The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporarily formed grouping of several distinct Aboriginal Australian peoples of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. The ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternative name for the Wailpi but th ...

name for the lake is ''Munda''. Europeans named the lake ''Frome'' after

Edward Charles Frome General Edward Charles Frome (7 January 1802 – 2 November 1890) was a British Army officer and Surveyor General of South Australia. Early life Born in Gibraltar on 7 January 1802, Frome was orphaned early in his life. He was educated in Blackh ...

, after he mapped the area in 1843. The lake was officially dual named Lake Frome / Munda in 2004.

Description

The lake adjoins

Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park The Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park is a protected area in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, immediately south-west of and adjacent to the Arkaroola Protection Area. They encompass some of the most rugged and spectacular country i ...

to its west and lies adjacent to

Lake Callabonna Lake Callabonna is a dry salt lake with little to no vegetation located in the Far North region of South Australia. The lake is situated approximately southwest of Cameron Corner, the junction of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wal ...

linked by Salt Creek to its north, the southern

Strzelecki Desert The Strzelecki Desert is located in the Far North Region of South Australia, South West Queensland and western New South Wales. It is positioned in the northeast of the Lake Eyre Basin, and north of the Flinders Ranges. Two other deserts occup ...

to its east, and the Frome Downs

pastoral lease A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to Pastoral farming, graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands. Austral ...

to its south. The ancient Lake Mega-Frome (Lakes Frome, Blanche, Callabonna and

Gregory Gregory may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gregory (surname), a surname *Gregory (The Walking Dead), fictional character from the walkin ...

) was last connected to

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in the east-central part of the Far North (South Australia), Far North region of South Australia, some 700 km (435 mi) north of Adelaide. It is the larg ...

50–47 thousand years ago. The region in which it is situated has little rainfall and is very sparsely settled, with the closest settlement to it being Arkaroola Village some north-west of its closest shore. Public road access to the lake is limited to a single, rough

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

track which commences from the

headquarters at Balcanoona (Virlkundhunha) station west. The route to Lake Frome traverses flat, stony terrain following Balcanoona Creek through the only completely protected arid catchment in Australia. After crossing both the Moomba-Adelaide

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

pipeline and the

dingo fence The Dingo Fence or Dog Fence is a pest-exclusion fence in Australia to keep dingoes out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they have largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland. ...

the track passes over low sand

dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

before arriving at the western shore of the lake. The protected area through which this access track travels is declared a Cultural Use zone for hunting by the local

Aboriginal people between 3.00 pm and 5.00 am; during this period public access is prohibited. Munda forms part of the local Dreaming story told by the

people explaining how the region's geology and species originated. According to this Dreaming story, Munda was emptied of its water by the

Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the Creator deity, creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many List of Australian Aboriginal group names, different Aborigina ...

Akurra when he ventured down Arkaroola Creek (which flows onto Munda) to drink. Due to its

Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

significance the Adnyamathanha do not venture onto the lake's surface.

Protected area status

Due to its "regional geological significance" the full extent of the lake was proclaimed as the

Lake Frome Regional Reserve Lake Frome National Park, formerly Lake Frome Regional Reserve, is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia about north-east of the state capital of Adelaide, in the Northern Flinders Ranges. It covers the full ext ...

in 1991. On 26 November 2021, the reserve's status was upgraded to a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in recognition of its significance as a large salt lake, becoming

Lake Frome National Park Lake Frome National Park, formerly Lake Frome Regional Reserve, is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia about north-east of the state capital of Adelaide, in the Northern Flinders Ranges. It covers the full ext ...

and giving it the same status as other large salt lakes such as Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre,

Lake Torrens Lake Torrens ( Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf. ...

and

Lake Gairdner Lake Gairdner is a large endorheic salt lake in the Australian state of South Australia, to the north of the Eyre Peninsula. When in flood, the lake is considered the third largest salt lake in Australia. Description Lake Gairdner is located a ...

. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frome Saline lakes of South Australia Far North (South Australia)

Description

Protected area status

See also

References