Lake Ballard

Lake Ballard
Lake Ballard
Lake Ballard
Location in Western Australia
Location Goldfields-Esperance, Western Australia
Coordinates 29°25′33″S 120°45′07″E / 29.42583°S 120.75194°E / -29.42583; 120.75194Coordinates: 29°25′33″S 120°45′07″E / 29.42583°S 120.75194°E / -29.42583; 120.75194
Type Salt lake
Basin countries Australia
Max. length 50 km (31 mi)
Max. width 20 km (12 mi)
Surface area 4,900 ha (12,108 acres)[1]

Lake Ballard is an ephemeral salt lake in the Shire of Menzies, Goldfields-Esperance area of Western Australia, with its eastern end about 18 kilometres (11 mi) north of Menzies.[2] It lies within the Shire of Menzies.

Sculptures

In 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Perth International Arts Festival the Inside Australia exhibition was commissioned. The artist and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley installed 51 sculptures over an area of 10 square kilometres (4 sq mi) on the bed of the lake.[3] The statues were to be removed at the conclusion of the festival but remain as a tourist exhibition.

Banded stilts

The lake is used as a breeding site for banded stilts following major flood events. The stilts nest in large close-packed colonies on low islands in ephemeral inland salt lakes such as Lake Eyre, Lake Barlee and Lake Ballard. The last recorded nesting on the lake was in 1995 following the aftermath of Cyclone Bobby.[4] The lake, along with the neighbouring Lake Marmion some 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the east, has been identified by BirdLife International as a 984-square-kilometre (380 sq mi) Important Bird Area (IBA), because it has supported a high proportion of the known banded stilt mass breeding events.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bonzle Digital Atlas – Map of Lake Ballard". 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  2. ↑ "Australian Traveller - 002 Be cast onto a salt lake". 2005. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  3. ↑ "Shire of Menzies - Lake Ballard". Shire of Menzies. 2005. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group - Archived Newslatters". 2000. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
  5. ↑ "IBA: Lakes Ballard and Marmion". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
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