Lake Argyle

Our last day excursion was to Lake Argyle, about 70km SE of Kununurra. The Lake, created by damming the Ord River, is the largest man made freshwater Lake in the Southern Hemisphere with a water capacity of over 9 times Sydney Harbour when it was opened in the early 1970s and then almost doubled that when they raised the dam wall in the mid 90s.

Lake Argyle stretches 70km to the south and 40km to the east. We went to various viewpoints and tried to get onto a cruise, but they were booked out. We visited the Argyle Homestead Museum - home of the pioneering Durack family. Many may be familiar with the book "Kings in Grass Castles" by Mary Durack, which chronicles the story of her family. The story of the family was very interesting and it was actually the grandson of the original Durack that recognised the area to be rich agricultural land and was the catalyst for creating the Ord River Irrigation Area.Read more