Blue Lake (Warwar)
Blue Lake
Interesting facts
- Radiocarbon dating of plant fibres in the crater suggests the volcano last erupted a little before 6,000 years ago, though earlier estimates ranged far wider.
- In Boandik Dreaming, the crater lakes are the cooking ovens of the giant ancestor Craitbul, who came here seeking safety from an evil spirit.
- Besides 'crow country', Warwar is also interpreted as 'the sound of many crows'; neighbouring Valley Lake's name, Ketla Malpi, means 'sacred talking tree'.
- The lake's surface lies about 17 metres below the level of Mount Gambier's main street.
- Lieutenant James Grant sighted the volcano in December 1800 from the survey brig Lady Nelson and named it after Admiral James Gambier.
- Of the four crater lakes, Brownes Lake dried up in the 1980s and Leg of Mutton Lake, named for its outline, in the 1990s as drainage lowered the water table.
- A 2008 diving team took core samples from the lake bed, a layer of calcite silt where the water temperature drops to about 14°C.
- The foundation stone of the obelisk commemorating Gordon's Leap was laid on 8 July 1887, more than two decades after the ride.
Why it is worth it
Blue Lake / Warwar fills a volcanic crater on the edge of Mount Gambier, in South Australia's Limestone Coast, and for part of every year it is one of the most startling colours in the Australian landscape. Through the cooler months the water looks a dull steel grey-blue; then, around November, it turns an intense cobalt that lasts through the summer before fading again in late summer and autumn. The change is thought to come from the warming of the surface layers: as the water reaches about 20°C, dissolved calcium carbonate from the surrounding limestone precipitates into microscopic crystals that scatter blue light, while in winter the lake mixes and grows murkier.
The crater itself belongs to the Mount Gambier maar complex, a group of explosion craters that once held four lakes; two of them have since dried out as the water table fell. Estimates for the last eruption vary widely, and if the youngest proposed date is right it would be among the most recent volcanic events on the Australian mainland. The lake is roughly 1.1 km long and 650 m wide, with a flat floor averaging around 72 m deep and reaching 77 m at its deepest point. Divers exploring it from the 1980s onwards found freshwater sponges and a field of hollow stromatolite-like formations along the north-eastern wall.
The land around the crater was Boandik country long before European settlement, and in 2022 the city adopted dual names for its crater lakes in the Bungandidj language; Warwar is usually translated as "crow country". The lake also has a practical life: it supplies Mount Gambier's drinking water, and an old pumping station stands on its shore. Local lore adds one colonial episode — in 1865 the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon is said to have jumped his horse over a fence onto a narrow ledge above the water and back again, a feat marked by a stone obelisk on the rim.
A road and walking track of about 3.6 km circles the crater rim, giving views down onto the water from all sides, and the colour is at its most dramatic on a sunny day in high summer.
Getting there
The lake is on the edge of Mount Gambier, about 2 km from the town centre. Mount Gambier Airport (MGB) is about 11 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Blue Lake / Warwar is a large, monomictic, crater lake located in a dormant volcanic maar associated with the Mount Gambier maar complex. The lake is situated near Mount Gambier in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, and is one of four volcanic crater lakes originally on Mount Gambier maar. Of the four lakes, only two remain, the other one being Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi; the other two, Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo and Brownes Lake / Kroweratwari, dried up as the water table dropped.
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