Lake Seppings | |
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![]() View of Lake Seppings from Mount Clarence | |
Location in Western Australia | |
Location | Great Southern region, Western Australia |
Coordinates | 35°0′48″S117°54′48″E / 35.01333°S 117.91333°E Coordinates: 35°0′48″S117°54′48″E / 35.01333°S 117.91333°E |
Type | Permanent freshwater |
Native name | Tjuirtgellong (Nyungar) |
Basin countries | Australia |
Designation | Lake Seppings Nature Reserve |
Max. length | 1.1 km (0.68 mi) |
Max. width | 0.4 km (0.25 mi) |
Shore length1 | 2.7 km (1.7 mi) |
Settlements | Albany, Western Australia |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Lake Seppings (Noongar: Tjuirtgellong) is a freshwater lake located within the city of Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
The lake is 3 kilometres (2 mi) east-north-east of the Albany city centre. The main bitumen roads that border Lake Seppings are Golf Links Road to the east, Troode Street to the north, Collingwood Road, Drew Street/Sleeman Avenue to west and Lake Seppings Drive to the south. The lake is nearly completely surrounded by a 2.7-kilometre (1.7 mi) compacted gravel footpath and wooden walkways. [1] A wooden bird hide has been built along the western side of the lake. A car park for access to the path is located along Golf Links Road.
Lake Seppings is approximately 1.1 kilometres (0.7 mi) in length (from north to south) and the north end is approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) in width. The lake narrows toward the southern end and the path crosses the lake approximately 250 metres (820 ft) before the southern tip. The lake is situated in the Lake Seppings nature reserve that has a total area of 17.1 hectares (42 acres). [2]
Lake Seppings is regarded as an excellent place for bird watching, particularly for water-birds. Over one hundred different species of birds have been recorded on and about the lake. Wading species are often seen along the margins of the lake such as the Australian white ibis, yellow-billed spoonbill and the white-faced heron. [3] Several species such as the blue-billed duck, musk duck, black swan, hoary-headed grebe, Australian pelican and Eurasian coot can be seen regularly on the surface of the lake. Birds that can be spotted amongst the lake vegetation include spotless crake, masked lapwing, dusky moorhen, purple swamphen and buff-banded rail. [4]
Lake Seppings has a rich variety of vegetation around its margins. The immediate lakeside is surrounded by a mixture of bullrushes, reeds and sedges. The fringing trees are a mixture of Myrtaceae: Western Australian peppermint trees, spearwoods, paperbarks, native willows and wattles. Banksias are also found around the lake. The northern end of the lake is a dense melaleuca stand of the above-mentioned species. The north-western side of the lake has been cleared and is suffering from infestations of several weeds. These include kikuyu grass, bracken, blackberry, nasturtium, Taylorina, and arum lily. Conservation groups are trying to restore the area starting with the old tip site which has been cleared and re-planted with several natives such as bluegums, Albany woolly-bushes and kangaroo paws.
Around 20,000 years ago the sea level was about 130 metres (430 ft) lower than present and the coastline was about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the lake's current shoreline. The sea level then rose and the lake was a shallow basin in the sea floor. This explains why cockle shells can be found preserved in the soil. Sea levels then fell to current levels about 8000 years ago leaving Lake Seppings 500 metres (1,640 ft) from the coast line.
Lands along the eastern shore of the lake once were part of an estate belonging to Joseph Spencer of Balgarrup near Kojonup in 1884. [5]
In 1887 it was proposed to the Albany Municipal Council by Councillor Robert Andrew Muir that the Council apply to the Government to grant the land surrounding Lake Seppings as a Commonage for the Municipality. [6] The council later voted on the application in 1888 with the intention of establishing a botanical park along the shoreline for a portion of the lake and a timber reserve around the lake. [7]
In 1888 Lake Seppings was declared a Botanic garden. The lake was renamed "Albany Park" in 1900 and protected as a natural wetland. Between 1900 and 1970 the west side of the lake became a rubbish dump until 1972 when the department of fisheries and fauna suggested the lake become a water-fowl reserve.
The Apex club of Albany began work on the bird-walk during the 1980s. The Albany community demanded that the lake be protected and restored in 2000 and in 2004 the walking trail around the lake was completed.
In 2018, a community planting to establish an biodiversity urban corridor planted 22,000 trees and understorey plants in a 1.7 hectares (4 acres) area around the lake to revegetate the fringes and provide habitat for species such as the endangered western ringtail possum. [8]
The local indigenous Australians are the Noongar people whose name for the lake is Tjuirtgellong which means "The place of the long-necked tortoise". The lake has a special significance to the Noongar who believe it to be the footprint of the spirit Djrat who created the south coast of Western Australia. [9]
Porongurup National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. It covers 26.21 square kilometres (10.12 sq mi), and is 360 kilometres (220 mi) southeast of Perth and 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Albany.
Mjøsa is Norway's largest lake, as well as one of the deepest lakes in Norway and in Europe. It is the fourth-deepest lake in Norway. It is located in the southern part of Norway, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of the city of Oslo. Its main tributary is the river Gudbrandsdalslågen flowing in from the north; the only distributary is the river Vorma in the south. Inflows would theoretically need 5.6 years to fill the lake. With an average depth of about 153 metres (502 ft), most of the lake's volume is under sea level. The average outflow of the lake (measured from 1931–1982) is 316 cubic metres per second (11,200 cu ft/s) which is about 9,959,000,000 cubic metres per year (1.1145×1010 cu ft/Ms). Mjøsa contains about 56 cubic kilometres (45,000,000 acre⋅ft) of water compared to the 15 cubic kilometres (12,000,000 acre⋅ft) in the lake Røssvatnet, the second largest lake by volume in Norway.
Albany Highway links Western Australia's capital city Perth with its oldest settlement, Albany, on the state's south coast. The 405-kilometre-long (252 mi) highway travels through the southern Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions, and is designated State Route 30 for most of its length. Outside of Perth the highway is predominately a sealed, single carriageway with regular overtaking lanes in some undulating areas. Albany Highway commences at The Causeway, a river crossing that connects to Perth's central business district. The highway heads south-east through Perth's metropolitan region, bypassed in part by Shepperton Road and Kenwick Link, and continues south-eastwards through to Albany. It intersects several major roads in Perth, including the Leach, Tonkin, Brookton, and South Western highways. The rural section of Albany Highway connects to important regional roads at the few towns and roadhouses along the route, including Coalfields Highway at Arthur River, Great Southern Highway at Cranbrook, and Muirs Highway at Mount Barker.
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