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
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][3][4]

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 metal sculptures over an area of 10 square kilometres (4 sq mi) on the bed of the lake.^[5][6] Each sculpture represented a local resident of Menzies, derived from the laser scans of the town's residents.^[7][8] The statues were to be removed at the conclusion of the festival but remain as a tourist exhibition. It is the largest outdoor art gallery on earth.^[7][9][10]

Banded stilts

The lake is used as a breeding site for banded stilts following major flood events.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

See also

• List of lakes of Western Australia

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. "Scenic | Discovering Lake Ballard". www.scenic.com.au. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
4. Embark. "Lake Ballard | Australia | Embark.org". www.embark.org. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
5. "Shire of Menzies - Lake Ballard". Shire of Menzies. 2005. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
6. "Australia's Golden Outback | Everything you need to know about Lake Ballard". www.australiasgoldenoutback.com. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
7. "Attraction - Tourism Western Australia". www.westernaustralia.com. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
8. "Lake Ballard » Shire of Menzies". www.menzies.wa.gov.au. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
9. "Australia's 8 Most Spectacular Lakes Worth Visiting in 2018/19". Backpacker Job Board Blog. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
10. "Antony Gormley's "Inside Australia"". Lake Ballard. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
11. "Kalgoorlie Boulder Pure Gold". Kalgoorlie Boulder Tours Accommodation Information. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
12. "Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group - Archived Newslatters". 2000. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
13. "IBA: Lakes Ballard and Marmion". Birdata. Birds Australia. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2011.