Lake Illawarra
Encyclopedia
Lake Illawarra is a large coastal lagoon
located in the city of Wollongong
about 100 km south of Sydney
, New South Wales
.
The lake receives runoff from the Illawarra escarpment
through Macquarie Rivulet
and Mullet Creek, and has a narrow tidal entrance to the sea at Windang. It is shallow with an average depth of 2–3 metres.
Located in the Wollongong urban area, Lake Illawarra is popular for recreational fishing, prawning and sailing. It is vulnerable to pollution and urban run-off, and is used as a source of cooling water for Tallawarra Power Station
on the western shore.
Birds found at the lake include pelican
s, cormorant
s, musk duck
s, hoary headed grebes, black swan
s, black ducks, grey teal ducks, heron
s, ibis
es and spoonbill
s.
Matthew Flinders
and George Bass
called the lake Tom Thumb's Lagoon on Flinders' chart, named after their little boat the Tom Thumb, when they were there in March 1796. The book "Lake Illawarra: an ongoing history" by Joseph Davis was published by the Lake Illawarra Authority in 2005 and provides a wide-ranging environmental and historical 'biography' of the Lake and its foreshores. It also contains many images and photographs depicting the lake.
On 12 January 2009, it is suspected a man was bitten by a bull shark whilst snorkelling at Windang near the mouth of Lake Illawarra.
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
located in the city of Wollongong
Wollongong, New South Wales
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...
about 100 km south of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
The lake receives runoff from the Illawarra escarpment
Illawarra escarpment
The Illawarra Escarpment is the fold created cliffs and plateau eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, Australia, enclosing the region known as the Illawarra which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Kiama, Gerringong and the Shoalhaven river in...
through Macquarie Rivulet
Macquarie Rivulet
Macquarie Rivulet is a river in New South Wales which is 23 kilometres long. It rises near Robertson, New South Wales and drains the eastern edge of the Southern Highlands plateau and part of the Illawarra escarpment. It flows through Albion Park Rail, then goes into Lake Illawarra and indirectly...
and Mullet Creek, and has a narrow tidal entrance to the sea at Windang. It is shallow with an average depth of 2–3 metres.
Located in the Wollongong urban area, Lake Illawarra is popular for recreational fishing, prawning and sailing. It is vulnerable to pollution and urban run-off, and is used as a source of cooling water for Tallawarra Power Station
Tallawarra Power Station, New South Wales
Tallawarra Power Station is a 435 MW combined cycle natural gas power station in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Owned and operated by TRUenergy, the station is the first of its type in New South Wales and produces electricity for the state during periods of high demand...
on the western shore.
Birds found at the lake include pelican
Pelican
A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae....
s, cormorant
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...
s, musk duck
Musk Duck
The Musk Duck is a highly aquatic, stiff-tailed duck native to southern Australia. It is the only living member of the genus Biziura. An extinct relative, the New Zealand Musk Duck or de Lautour's Duck , once occurred on New Zealand, but is only known from prehistoric subfossil bones...
s, hoary headed grebes, black swan
Black Swan
The Black Swan is a large waterbird, a species of swan, which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. The species was hunted to extinction in New Zealand, but later reintroduced. Within Australia they are nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon climatic...
s, black ducks, grey teal ducks, heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
s, ibis
Ibis
The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae....
es and spoonbill
Spoonbill
Spoonbills are a group of large, long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, which also includes the Ibises.All have large, flat, spatulate bills and feed by wading through shallow water, sweeping the partly opened bill from side to side...
s.
Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
and George Bass
George Bass
George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...
called the lake Tom Thumb's Lagoon on Flinders' chart, named after their little boat the Tom Thumb, when they were there in March 1796. The book "Lake Illawarra: an ongoing history" by Joseph Davis was published by the Lake Illawarra Authority in 2005 and provides a wide-ranging environmental and historical 'biography' of the Lake and its foreshores. It also contains many images and photographs depicting the lake.
On 12 January 2009, it is suspected a man was bitten by a bull shark whilst snorkelling at Windang near the mouth of Lake Illawarra.
External links
- Illawarra Yacht Club
- Ash distribution and metal contents of Lake Illawarra bottom sediments
- Spatial variation of sediment-bound zinc, lead, copper and rubidium in Lake Illawarra, a coastal lagoon in eastern Australia
- Inorganic nutrient and oxygen fluxes across the sediment–water interface in the inshore macrophyte areas of a shallow estuary (Lake Illawarra, Australia)
- Ostracoda in Lake Illawarra: Environmental factors, assemblages and systematics.
- Organic matter and benthic metabolism in Lake Illawarra, Australia
- Holocene Sea Level Fluctuations and the Sedimentary Evolution of a Barrier Estuary: Lake Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia