Where Did Australia's Great Lakes Go?

Australia is the driest, inhabited continent in the entire world! Which means that, unlike every other continent, it doesn't have any large, life-sustaining lakes that supply water for millions and moderate the climate. But that's not to say it's never had any great lakes. Today, on Google Maps, you'd be right to assume the country has several very large, very prominent lakes in South Australia, but, in reality, those lakes don't really exist. So where did Australia's Great Lakes go?

In this video we'll cover the ancient history of how Australia became so dry in the first place, why great lakes are so important to every other inhabited continent in the world, and what happened specifically to the large and prominent-looking lakes that appear on Google Maps, but don't actually exist in real life.

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Video editing support provided by Kat Olsen

[ramio]

Tropical North Queensland is the polar opposite of the outback, its extremely green, forested and lush with plenty of water.

[stevevanhouten]

Live in Adelaide. South and Western Australian states could have been like California or Arizona if we had more people😂

[petersguazzato]

Just to inform you, lake Ayre was going to be flooded with seawater back in 1920 a Chanel was going to be dugout from Port Augusta SA this was ultimately scrapped by commonwealth government and the Snowy Mountain hydroelectric system was elected to go ahead, engineers markers are still in place where the channel was to go through, had they’d gone through with the project, our weather system would be a lot wetter today and certainly greener

[duBGrass]

That's mountains, rainforest, and a biodiverse coastline in the northeastern section of the land you highlighted and called "dry interior".

[hiramhackenbacker]

I've flown over Lake Eyre ( pronounced "air" ) when it was full of water in 2011. About once a decade it fills up when there has been unseasonal rain in the interior and the dry river beds become raging torrents.
It was a spectacular sight. It was quite shallow and there was lots of bird life, particularly pelicans.
It was really worth seeing.

[stormsofparadise]

Darwin-Kathryne Is in the wet tropics. The Gulf of Carpentaria coast is mostly tropical savannah and extends south to Mount Isa. Lake Eyre is part of the larger great artesian basin, fed by many rivers and springs creating Oasis of rainforests and billabongs. The great Artisian basin is recharged by the western slopes of the northern great dividing ranges. So the outback is hot and dry, but its also much greener than foreigners think. I hope my point makes sense.😊😊

[mill__er]

I grew up in a small town in Western Australia, if you looked at it on a map you’d think there was heaps of little lakes all around, but it’s all just salt flats 😅

[davidfrew]

The map at 1:14 is wrong! The north-eastern part is mostly tropical rainforest, not to mention the wet season in the whole north; so, it cannot be considered arid or even semi-arid.

[PeloquinDavid]

Having lived (and travelled extensively) in both dry Australia and (much) wetter Canada, it's always been a bit of a joke to say that they DO have lots of lakes (and rivers) in Australia, but (unlike in Canada) there's no presumption they actually have any water in them.

And it's not just in the outback: even in the eastern states near the coast, there are lovely lakes that are primarily characterized by the sheep grazing on them...

[bobgardin]

Northern Australia is actually tropical forest

[johnledingham]

After a good wet season the outback comes to life in an amazing way. Green grass sprouts, wildflowers amazingly appear as if out of
nowhere, fauna such as kangaroo, emu and wallabies arrive, and a great profusion of birdlife in huge flocks. A great variety of lizards
and frogs that lay dormant underground for long periods awaiting the big wet too. Even pelicans that seem to be programmed know to make
the flights to these rejuvenated bodies of water. Deep down below the surface lies the Great Australian Artesian Basin. A huge body of
water that cattle stations (ranches) pump up to enable them to survive life in the outback. It has its own unique beauty that draws many
to seek out a lifestyle in the outback. Even the Flying Doctor plays a role in servicing outback communities along with commercial airways,
railways and road haulage. It's charming, exciting and hot! And these days it's becoming more tourist friendly too.

[geoffparks]

I swear, Australia is actually not just a barren land. It has a mountain range and even an Alpine climate classification when you go to places like Thredbo which is a ski resort.

[thebeautifulones]

Lake Eyre is -17m. There was a plan in the 1930s to fill it with sea water to improve the interior climate and make rain. The problem is there is a range of hills in the way of the sea.

[MrMoriarty]

Australia could hugely mitigate the drought conditions by building a tidal canal or pipeline linking the Southern Ocean to Lake Eyre, thus permanently flooding the latter to sea level.

[trumbettier]

I came to Australia as a 20 year old and I am now 81. One curiosity of mine is that every time in the last 60 years that I came across a story about just how "arid, dry and waterless" Australia is, there is always a region within Australia the size of, say, an entire European country, flooded under metres of water. Additionally, like an enormous sprinkler system, the monsoon rains inundate the vast northern half of the continent during the summer when the southern half is usually in drought. Where does all that precious water go? This led me to believe that Australia suffers more from a lack of water managers than from a lack of water.

[duBGrass]

This video should be titled, '50 different ways to say that the Australian lakes shown on google maps are no longer lakes, but are instead dry salt flats. They are still shown on the map because they are prominent features of the landscape in both the past and present'.
This had more filler than a 10 page high school essay.

[kingofthejungle]

@0:28 the simple answer to that question is lakes Eyre and Torrens are relatively shallow lakes, and lose a lot of water through evaporation.

[JanVrtielka]

Australianeed railway connectivity: From Perth vi Headland- Broome to Derby. And then from Townsville-Mount Isa-Tennant Creek, and Creek-Fitzroy Crossing-Derby. Finally Longreach-Boudarie, Carnarvon, produce 75% of all fruits and vegetables for Western Australia. Yet is not connected with Perth by railway line. I call this tyranny of stinginess.

[Pushing_Pixels]

Here’s some additional info:

Australia only has one major river system, the Murray-Darling, on the Western side of the Great Dividing Range. While its drainage basin is quite large, it doesn’t carry much water compared to other major rivers. So much of it is diverted to agriculture and supporting the population that it often never reaches the sea, as its mouth becomes blocked by sand and sediment. During extreme drought, parts of it can dry up completely.

The rainfall in the north east and east of the country is heavily influenced by the Southern Oscillation Index, with La Niña events causing most of the heavy rainfall and El Niño coinciding with drought. Flooding can be a major problem on the East Coast during La Niña events.

When heavy rainfall does make it over the Great Dividing Range, the Murray-Darling can also experience severe and prolonged flooding. The topography being so flat means the water drains slowly.

The area that drains into Lake Eyre is vast. It covers much of the interior of the State of Queensland, which is Australia’s second largest state and on its own larger than most countries.

When Lake Eyre does fill, it attracts large numbers of migratory birds.

The early colonists believed there must be an inland sea, or large lakes, somewhere in the interior, and several major expeditions were mounted in an attempt to find it. Needless to say, they were bitterly disappointed.

The Northern parts of the continent are tropical, and have wet and dry seasons like other tropical regions. They have the most predictable rainfall, but it’s unevenly distributed. Those are also some of the least developed and populated parts of the country.

Every now and then, some politician, business leader, or think tank floats the idea of trying to develop large scale agriculture in the northern tropics, to take advantage of the more reliable rainfall, and every single time the scientific studies say it isn’t viable. This has been going on for almost a century.

[billyhomeyer]

Australia’s great lakes went the way of the NZ Navy.