Location
Lake George (or Weereewa in the indigenous language) is an endorheic lake in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 40 kilometres north-east of Canberra located adjacent to the Federal Highway en route to Goulburn and Sydney. Lake George is also the name of a locality on the western and southern edges of the lake, within the area of the Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council. (wikipedia)
History
The local indigenous people called the lake Werriwa (originally spelled Weereewa in the journals of the explorers who noted the name), which may mean “bad water”; even when full, the lake is one of the saltiest bodies of water in inland NSW, almost as saline as seawater. However, the name is also similar to regional indigenous word for eagle, which often fly there. The first European to discover the lake was Joseph Wild on 19 August 1820, and it was named for King George III on 28 October 1820 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who was touring the area as part of a Royal Commission inquiring into the condition of the Colony.
A large and beautiful billabong existed at the northern end of the lake, and in the 1850s it was stocked by the landowner with Murray cod fished out of the Molonglo River at Yarralumla. At some time the billabong overflowed and introduced Murray cod into the lake itself. They bred rapidly and, from the 1850s to the 1890s, Lake George abounded with them. The long Federation Drought commenced in the mid-1890s, and by 1902 the lake had dried out completely. In their search for water to survive in, the Murray cod flocked into the mouths of the few small creeks feeding the lake and were killed by the thousands.
One of the original 75 electoral divisions of the Australian House of Representatives in 1901 was named “Werriwa”. By 1913, it no longer included the lake, and the electorate is currently centred in the south-western suburbs of Sydney.
In the early 1900s an area immediately to the east of the lake was surveyed as a possible site for the capital city of Australia. Instead, the Australian Capital Territory and city of Canberra were established some 30 km south-west of the lake.
During World War II, a wooden ‘dummy’ ship was floated on the lake and used for bombing practice by the Royal Australian Air Force. It is possible that there is still unexploded ordnance settled into the lake bed.
On 8 July 1956 five cadets from the Royal Military College, Duntroon drowned in a yachting accident. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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