Lake Bonney

Lake Bonney is the pride of the Barmera and surrounding community...as noted on the sign as you enter Barmera: "Welcome to Barmera and the Beautiful lake Bonney". The lake is used for irrigation and recreation and is at the heart of many Riverlanders' memories when growing up in this region (most of all for mum and her sisters, who spent many sweltering days cooling down in it and jumping off its jetty. The jetty progressively morphed from a U shape to and L shape and finally simply and I shape due to safety reasons... That, however pales in comparison to the recent decision by the state government to block the lake where it connects to the Murray and let it dry out. I am led to believe that their reasoning was that Lake Bonney is too large of an expanse of water and creates a water/air surface area that means it loses Murray water at a very high rate. There was a public outcry from the community and many meetings held to discuss their disapproval of the decision. Their cries landed on deaf ears and there is now a blockade made of dirt and rock at the point where the Murray used to fill the lake. The blockade was constructed in September 2007 and its impact is very easy to see. The following are photos of the lake and surrounds. Prior to the blockage, the water level lapped at the grass... Mum, you may want to look away now.