Lake Burbury

Lake Burbury
Looking north from Bradshaw Bridge
Lake Burbury Location in Tasmania
Location	West Coast Range, Tasmania, Australia
Coordinates	42°07′12″S 145°39′36″E / 42.12000°S 145.66000°E / -42.12000; 145.66000
Type	Reservoir
Primary inflows	King River Eldon River
Surface area	54 km2 (21 sq mi)

Lake Burbury is a man-made water reservoir created by the Crotty Dam inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. Discharge from the reservoir feeds the John Butters Hydroelectric Power Station, owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.

The reservoir was named in honour of Stanley Burbury, a former Governor of Tasmania.

The lake is fed mainly by rivers from the north, including the upper King River, and the Eldon River. Valleys that open to the area include the Linda Valley. It also has a natural lake just north of its northern shore known as Lake Beatrice which is at the eastern end of Mount Sedgwick. It has a surface area of 54 square kilometres (21 sq mi).

It is popular as a fishing lake, but is susceptible to extreme weather. Its feeder rivers are the upper King, Nelson, Princess, and Eldon Rivers. There are design features in the Crotty Dam to lower the surface level rapidly in the event of severe floodwaters.

The lake has the 'Bradshaw' bridge crossing it to connect the Lyell Highway across it, and has two dams - one in the King River Gorge - the Crotty Dam, and the other adjacent to Mount Darwin, the Darwin Dam.

The dam inundated the historical sites of the Darwin and Crotty - as well as the bridge of the North Mount Lyell Railway over the King River which was not salvaged before the flooding.

The Crotty Dam site had been surveyed in the early twentieth century but the proposed dam did not proceed at that time. It was re-visited in the 1980s and involved in the last major dam construction by Hydro Tasmania.