Lake Beeac
{{Short description|Lake in Victoria, Australia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2014}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name = Lake Beeac
| other_name =
| image = Lake Beeac Reflections.JPG
| image_size = 250px
| alt = The photo shows Lake Beeac and the sky above it. The surface of the water is mirror-like, it reflects the blue sky and the clouds in it.
| caption = Shallow water and the crystallizing of salt reflect the sky beautifully on Lake Beeac
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| location = Western District Lakes, Victoria
| pushpin_map = Australia Victoria
| pushpin_relief = 1
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_map_alt = A map of Victoria, Australia with a mark indicating the location of Lake Beeac
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Victoria
| coor_pinpoint =
| coordinates_footnotes = {{Gazetteer of Australia|name=Lake Beeac (VIC)|feature=VIC561|accessdate=5 November 2014}}
| coords = {{coord|38|12|18.5|S|143|36|59.5|E|region:AU-VIC|display=inline,title}}
| type = Endorheic, hypersaline
| inflow =
| outflow = Evaporation
| catchment =
| basin_countries = Australia
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| length =
| width =
| area = {{convert|560|ha|abbr=on}}
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| reference = {{cite web|url=http://audit.ea.gov.au/anra/water/docs/river_assessment/River_assessment.pdf|type=PDF|title=An Audit of the Ecological Condition of Australian Rivers|work=Environment Australia|publisher=Government of Australia|date=|access-date=}}{{Cite VICNAMES|7621|Lake Beeac}}{{cite web|url=http://maps.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=165849&cmd=sp|title=Map of Lake Beeac, VIC|work=Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia|date=|access-date=5 November 2014}}
}}
Lake Beeac, a hypersaline endorheic lake, is located beside the small town of Beeac in the Lakes and Craters region of the Victorian Volcanic Plains of south-west Victoria, in southeastern Australia. The {{convert|560|ha|acre|adj=on}} lake is situated about {{convert|19|km|mi}} northeast of Colac, and its high salinity gives it a milky-blue colour. The lake is part of the Ramsar-listed Western District Lakes site, and enjoys international recognition of its wetland values and some protection for its waterbirds.{{Cite web|title=Lake Beeac|work= Colac... a community website|url=http://www.otway.biz/lakebeeac.html|access-date=1 December 2010}}
Wildlife
Despite its extreme salinity, Lake Beeac supports brine shrimp which in turn feed water birds such as the banded stilt and the red-necked avocet. Birds have been known to come from as far as Siberia and China to eat the lake's shrimp.{{Cite web|title=Beeac|publisher=Colac Otway Shire Council|url=http://www.colacotway.vic.gov.au/page/Page.asp?Page_Id=1337&h=1|access-date=1 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216165421/http://www.colacotway.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_Id=1337&h=1|archive-date=16 February 2011|url-status=dead}} The lake is an important habitat for wetland water-birds. The lake forms part of the Lake Corangamite Complex Important Bird Area, so identified by BirdLife International because it sometimes supports globally important numbers of waterbirds.{{cite web|publisher=BirdLife International|date=2011|work=Important Bird Areas factsheet|title=Lake Corangamite Complex|url=http://www.birdlife.org|access-date=19 July 2011 }}
History
Between the late 1860s and the 1950s, salt works at Lake Beeac and other nearby lakes produced commercial quantities of salt.Dawn Missen & Anne Trigg, Beeac: Winds of Change 1860–2010, Dawn Missen & Anne Trigg, Colac, 2011, pp. 74–75. The Melbourne spice merchant Henry Berry established a salt works at Lake Cundare, just north of Beeac, in 1868 which produced salt by a boiling and crystallising process. The works produced a fine salt for domestic consumption under the label "Tower of London". Production ceased in 1895.Norman Houghton, Scrapers and Boilers: Beeac's Lake Salt Trade 1868–1968, Norman Houghton, Geelong, 2016, pp. 2–16.
Lake Beeac was the main lake in the area used for the collecting of naturally crystallised salt during the summer months. This process produced a coarse salt that was sold for agricultural and industrial purposes. Production depended on the weather: during the hot dry summer of 1921, 3000 tonnes were produced, but in a wet summer no salt at all could be collected. Commercial production ceased in 1954, by which time cheaper production elsewhere had made the Lake Beeac salt uneconomical.Houghton, pp. 22–25.
See also
{{stack|{{Portal|Australia|Water|Environment}}}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Lakes of Victoria}}
Category:Important Bird Areas of Victoria (state)
Category:Ramsar sites in Australia