Lake Torrens

Lake Torrens is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia.

Lake Torrens is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf.

Islands on the lake include Andamooka Island and Murdie Island, both near the western shore; Trimmer Inlet runs between Andamooka Island and the shore, and Carrapateena Arm is an arm extending westwards south of Murdie Island.

Approximately 35,000 years ago, the lake water was fresh to brackish, but has become increasingly saline since.The traditional owners of the area are the Arabunna peoples to the north, the Kokatha to the west and the Kuyani to the east. In addition, the lake is a sacred site to at least four peoples: the Barngarla, Kokatha, Kuyani and Adnyamathanha peoples. However,the Supreme Court of Australia made a determination in 2016 that none of the groups would be awarded native title to the area, as it was not possible to know which, if any, had ownership before colonisation of the area, despite the fact that the Kokatha previously had native title. The first European to see the lake was Edward Eyre in 1839, who spotted the salt bed from Mount Arden at the head of the Spencer Gulf.Eyre named the lake after Colonel Robert Torrens who was one of the founders of the colony of South Australia. However the Kuyani people had long called the lake Ngarndamukia, meaning "shower of rain".The lake filled in 1897 and again in April 1989. The 1989 filling resulted in the lake outflowing through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf, suggesting it likely did so in 1897 as well. It has a thin salt crust with red-brown clays beneath, which are soft and boggy. The area around the lake is sparsely vegetated with samphire, saltbush and bluebush.In April 2013, the full extent of Lake Torrens was gazetted by the Government of South Australia as a locality with the name Lake Torrens.