Mount Gambier (volcano)
{{Short description|Maar in South Australia}}
{{About|the maar volcano known as Mount Gambier||Mount Gambier (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{use Australian English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Mount Gambier
| other_name = Ereng Balam
| photo = Mount_Gambier_Blue_Lake.jpg
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| photo_caption = Blue Lake maar of Mount Gambier
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| location = South Australia, Australia
| map = South Australia
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Mount Gambier, also known as Berrin, is a maar complex in South Australia associated with the Newer Volcanics Province. The complex contains four maars, the most well-known one of which is Blue Lake / Warwar. The others are Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi, Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo and Brownes Lake / Kroweratwari. The complex is partially surrounded by the city of Mount Gambier.
History
File:Browne's Lake B-69024.jpg
Mount Gambier is one of Australia's youngest volcanoes, but estimates of the age have ranged from over 28,000 to less than 4,300.{{cite web |url=http://www.hamilton-field-naturalists-club-victoria.org.au/images/pdf/D/VolcAgesKG.pdf |title=The Ages of Our Volcanoes |access-date=2014-08-05 |first=Ken |last=Grimes |year=2013 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140808050342/http://www.hamilton-field-naturalists-club-victoria.org.au/images/pdf/D/VolcAgesKG.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2014 |url-status=dead }} The most recent estimate, based on radiocarbon dating of plant fibres in the main crater (Blue Lake) suggests an eruption a little before 6000 years ago.{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.08.005|title=6000 years of environmental changes recorded in Blue Lake, South Australia, based on ostracod ecology and valve chemistry |year=2010| last1=Gouramanis| first1=Chris| last2=Wilkins| first2=Daniel|last3=De Deckker| first3=Patrick| journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology| volume=297|pages=223–237|hdl=1885/53594|hdl-access=free}}
It is believed to be dormant rather than extinct.{{cn|date=October 2022}}
Mount Gambier is thought to have formed by a mantle plume centre called the East Australia hotspot which may currently lie offshore.[http://www.volcanolive.com/mtgambier.html Mt Gambier Volcano, Australia – John Search]
The Boandik (or Bungandidj) people occupied the area before the colonisation of South Australia.{{cite web | title=Dual names for sites of cultural significance | website=City of Mount Gambier | date=16 February 2022 | url=https://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/news/dual-names-for-sites-of-cultural-significance | access-date=14 October 2022}} They referred to the peak of the volcanic mountain as "ereng balam" or "egree belum", meaning "home of the eagle hawk",{{cite web |work=Place Names Online |publisher=Government of South Australia Land Services Group |title=Other information |url=http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/pno/other.phtml?recno=SA0025397 |access-date=2006-10-22 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930203301/http://www.placenames.sa.gov.au/pno/other.phtml?recno=SA0025397 |archive-date = 2007-09-30}} but the mountain itself was called Berrin.Christina Smith, [https://archive.org/details/booandiktribeso00smitgoog The Booandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language], Spiller, 1880 Their Dreaming story tells of a giant ancestor creator being called Craitbul, who wandered the land with his family looking for a place to be safe from the evil spirit, Woor, and finding it. The lakes were the ovens he built: Warwar (Blue Lake), Ketlamalpe (Valley Lake), Yattonlu (Leg of Mutton Lake) and Kraweratwari (Brownes Lake).{{cite web | title=WarWar is the word | website=SAWater | date=30 May 2019 | url=https://www.sawater.com.au/news/warwar-is-the-word | access-date=14 October 2022}}{{cite web | title=Sharing the story of WarWar | website=SAWater | date=1 May 2019 | url=https://www.sawater.com.au/news/sharing-the-story-of-warwar | access-date=14 October 2022}} It is believed that Craitbul lives sleeping at the bottom of Warwar.{{cite book| chapter-url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/australex/publications/gale.pdf| chapter=The reawakening of Craitbul: The revival of the Boandik language of Mount Gambier|author= Gale, Mary-Anne| title=Endangered Words, Signs of Revival|date=2014|editor1=Ghil'ad Zuckermann| editor2= Julia Miller |editor3=Jasmin Morley }}
The mountain was sighted by Lieutenant James Grant on 3 December 1800 from the survey brig HMS Lady Nelson and named for James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier,, Admiral of the Fleet.{{cite book|last=Grant|first=James|author-link=James Grant (navigator)|title=The narrative of a voyage of discovery, performed in His Majesty's vessel the Lady Nelson, of sixty tons burthen: with sliding keels, in the years 1800, 1801, and 1802, to New South Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PZAvAAAAMAAJ|access-date=24 January 2012|year=1803|page=68|publisher=Printed by C. Roworth for T. Egerton|isbn=978-0-7243-0036-5}}
Brownes Lake was the site of Stephen Henty's cattle yards in the 1840s{{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/a777thunder1/4412532689 |title=Mt. Gambier Brown Lake |website=Flickr |access-date=28 March 2024}} and was named after Doctor Browne who lived at nearby Moorak station. The water level has fluctuated over the years, with it having a recorded depth of {{convert|6|m}} in 1899.{{cn|date=October 2022}}
Leg of Mutton Lake (named for the outline of its shoreline) and Brownes Lake dried up as the water table dropped, since the 1980s (Brownes) and 1990s (Leg of Mutton). Both of these lakes were quite shallow; their demise is attributed to the lowering of the water table as a result of many years of land drainage to secure farmland.{{cn|date=October 2022}}
Description
The Boandik people referred to Mount Gambier as Berrin. It has also been recorded as being named ereng balam or egree belum, probably meaning "the home of the eagle hawk" in the Bungandidj language.{{cite web | title=Mount Gambier, SA | website=Aussie Towns | date=27 June 2020 | url=https://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/mount-gambier-sa | access-date=14 October 2022}}
The lakes, as sites of cultural significance to the Boandik people, were assigned dual names by the City of Mount Gambier in February 2022, and the renaming included the four lakes in the Bungandidj language. These are as follows:
- Blue Lake / Warwar, meaning "crow country", or "the sound of many crows"
- Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo (unknown meaning)
- Brownes Lake / Kroweratwari, meaning "emus, [or] their tracks"
- Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi, meaning "sacred talking tree"
Blue Lake / Warwar and Valley Lake / Ketla Malpi are water-filled volcanic lakes, but Leg of Mutton Lake / Yatton Loo and Brownes Lake / KroweratwariSheard, M.J. (1978) "Geological History of the Mount Gambier Volcanic Complex, Southeast South Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 102(5): 125–139, Aug. 1978{{cite web | title=Dual names for sites of cultural significance | website=City of Mount Gambier | date=16 February 2022 | url=https://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/news/dual-names-for-sites-of-cultural-significance | access-date=14 October 2022}} are dry. Brownes Lake is used as a picnic area.{{cite web | title=Browns Lake Picnic Spot | website=Weekend Notes | date=28 November 2011 | url=https://www.weekendnotes.com/browns-lake-picnic-spot/ | access-date=14 October 2022}}
This area is part of the UNESCO-endorsed Kanawinka Geopark, and the city of Mount Gambier partially surrounds the maar complex.{{cn|date=October 2022}}
See also
References
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{{Limestone Coast}}
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Category:Volcanoes of South Australia