Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Lake Corangamite

This  is Victoria's largest lake. It is one of the many lakes that formed when basalt lava flows blocked streams, diverting them to depressions which also resulted from volcanic activity. Subsequently, the major rivers flowing into Lake Corangamite were diverted by the formation of divides, cutting off inflow to the lake. Like the maar lakes, it now depends mainly on groundwater and rainfall run-off. Lake Corangamite is now 160 km² in area, The Woady Yallock Creek flows into it from the north and from the south the Pirron Yallock. The western flats of the area are drained to the sea by Mt Emu Creek. The lake was originally 7 times larger , as evidenced by the distribution lacustrine sediments and lunettes. It extended from Inverleigh and Winchelsea in the east to Mt Emu Creek in the west, and in the north from Foxhow and Cressy to the south at Colac, Camperdown and Birregurra. The lake reached its maximum area between 7000 and 6000 BP.

Sources & Further reading

Mary E White, Running Down, Water in a Changing Land, Kangaroo Press, 2000