The mysteries of Lake George: fact or folklore?
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Lake George, splayed at the edge of the Federal Highway 30 minutes from Canberra, has long been the stuff of myth and mystery.
This atmospheric place has spawned a myriad of tales—of bunyips, UFOs and apparitions—and seen many deaths. And where the hell does all that water actually disappear to?
For decades I’ve been fascinated by the lake’s wildly changeable water levels and the stories that abound. So when local investigator, Tim the Yowie Man, was hosting an evening soiree at Lerida Estate winery to divulge some of the lake’s secrets, I simply had to be there.
The background
The lake’s history goes back millions of years, as the 250 metres of sediment and bedrock below attest. Originally the lake drained into the Yass River but seismic movement along a fault line caused a major lift in the land, cutting off inflow from river systems and forming what we now call the Cullerin Block, the escarpment you drive along towards Sydney.
The term ‘lake’ seems a misnomer, given lakes usually contain water. Although seen now as a large stretch of grazing land, Lake George once held more water than Lake Burley Griffin and at many times has been brimming. In the 1980s and ’90s and even in 2016, water would lap at the edges of the highway before suddenly disappearing, as if by magic, sometimes retreating kilometres overnight.
In the 1960s, the lake hosted many a family day out with swimming and boating events, and people travelled from Sydney by train for the day. Sailing boats dotted the water and even the odd paddle steamer found its way there. The regattas, however, could be fraught as westerly winds could postpone events and lead to many boats capsizing and rescues.
The real story
The lake’s dramatic water fluctuations have given rise to much conjecture, including theories that as the waters emptied out in Lake George they filled up elsewhere, across the Tasman, or even in China, in some strange aquatic equilibrium. Some proffered the idea of mysterious underground canals, or possibly quicksand, to explain the disappearing act.
It’s perhaps somewhat disappointing to learn that science has a simple explanation. The lake bed, stretching 25 by 10 kilometres, is large and very shallow with no river inflows. This leads to a lot of quick evaporation. Basically, more water goes up than comes down. Simple! Though not nearly as intriguing as the notion of secret channels and alternating lake levels in foreign lands.
A dark history
Although only discovered by Europeans in 1820 by Governor Macquarie, who named the lake for his then King, there is evidence Aboriginal people were in the region 60,000 years beforehand. They called the lake Weereewa, meaning place of bad waters or a place of conflict—perhaps an ominous name.
Lake George was once proposed to be the site of the new capital of Australia, with the lake waters to feed nearby agricultural lands. Only trouble was when the official reviewing party turned up, there wasn’t much water to be seen, putting to bed the idea of transforming the area into ‘the Venice of Australia’. In retrospect, a fortuitous decision.
The area has witnessed many tragic deaths, both on the lake and on the once treacherous, undivided stretch of highway flanking it. As implausible, or even impossible, drowning deaths may seem when the lake is a dry grazing field, those stories are unfortunately true.
The lake’s shallow depths and calm appearance belie its dangers, and when full, the lake is prone to strong gusty winds which can change suddenly and whip up the icy waters into a frenzy. More than a dozen have lost their lives through drowning or hyperthermia since 1949, including five cadets from the Royal Military College Duntroon drowned in 1956 when their small boat capsized in the suddenly rough waters. It was days before their bodies were found. A few years later, a family day out on the lake turned to tragedy and a Queanbeyan family of drowned with only one person surviving, the priest who was with them, to tell the harrowing tale.
Lake George today
Nowadays the waters are largely missing in action and you’re more likely to spot an artwork on the lake than a sailing boat. The enigmatic lake has inspired a range of artistic endeavours, has hosted a rogue herd of zebras and was the site of the sporadic Weereewa Festival started in 1999. If you’re looking in the right place, you might even stumble across a sunken house, a festival art installation that stayed on.
But what of those UFO sightings and the phantom hitchhiker, a young girl seeking a ride on the highway? Is she the girl who drowned on the lake decades ago? And what were those strange lights on the horizon, and why did hundreds of fish suddenly die overnight? And when was the lake ‘monster’ last spotted?
Want to know more?
If you’re keen to hear more, you can join Tim on one of his regularly run events, or track down the comprehensive Magnificent Lake George: The Biography by recently-deceased local Graeme Barrow, which provides a detailed and fascinating history of the lake.
There was much to learn while sipping local wines, but even on a drizzly evening coinciding with a full moon and the summer solstice, no ghostly beings were spotted lurking around the lake.
Perhaps I may have to go further south to meet one of Collector’s reported ‘locals’ as my next port of call?
Feature image: Visit Canberra
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