Natural freshwater lakes in Australia are rare due to the general absence of glacial and tectonic activity in Australia.

Types

Most lakes in Australia fall within one of five categories. Excluding lakes and lagoons created by man-made dams for water storage and other purposes, one can identify the following:

• coastal lakes and lagoons including perched lakes;
• natural freshwater inland lakes, often ephemeral and some part of wetland or swamp areas;
• the Main Range containing mainland Australia's five glacial lakes.^[1] In Tasmania, due to glaciation, there are a large number of natural freshwater lakes on the central plateau, many of which have been enlarged or modified by hydro-electric developments;
• predominantly dry, salt lakes in the flat desert regions of the country lacking organised drainage; and
• lakes created in volcanic remnants.

List of lakes and lagoons by state and territory

New South Wales

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in New South Wales:

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Lake Albina	Glacial	Snowy Mountains	Kosciuszko National Park; Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves	0.66	2		[7]
2	Avoca Lake	Coastal	Central Coast	70	173		[8]
3	Lake Bathurst	Freshwater ephemeral	Southern Tablelands	10	25
4	Blue Lake	Freshwater ephemeral; Glacial	Snowy Mountains	Kosciuszko National Park; Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves; Ramsar site	16	40		[9]
5	Budgewoi Lake	Coastal	Central Coast	1,400	3,459
6	Lake Cathie	Coastal
7	Chipping Norton Lake	Freshwater ephemeral	Greater Sydney
8	Lake Cootapatamba	Glacial	Snowy Mountains
9	Lake Cowal	Freshwater ephemeral	Central West
10	Dee Why Lagoon	Coastal lagoon	Northern Beaches
11	Lake George	Freshwater ephemeral	Southern Tablelands
12	Glenbrook Lagoon	Freshwater ephemeral	Blue Mountains
13	Glenrock Lagoon	Coastal lagoon
14	Headley Tarn	Glacial
15	Lake Illawarra	Coastal	Illawarra
16	Lake Macquarie	Coastal	Hunter
17	Menindee Lakes	Freshwater ephemeral	Far West
18	Lake Moore	Freshwater ephemeral
19	Lake Mungo	Saline	Far West
20	Lake Munmorah	Coastal	Central Coast
21	Myall Lakes	Coastal	Mid North Coast
22	Narrabeen Lagoon	Coastal	Northern Beaches	220	544		[10]
23	Narran Lakes	Freshwater ephemeral
24	Smiths Lake	Coastal	Mid North Coast
25	St Georges Basin	Coastal	South Coast / Jervis Bay Territory
26	Tabourie Lake	Coastal	Mid North Coast
27	Terrigal Lagoon	Coastal lagoon	Central Coast
28	Tuggerah Lake	Coastal	Central Coast
29	Lake Urana	Saline	Far West
30	Wallaga Lake	Freshwater ephemeral
31	Wallis Lake	Coastal	Mid North Coast
32	Wamberal Lagoon	Coastal lagoon	Central Coast
33	Wattle Grove Lake	Freshwater ephemeral
34	Willandra Lakes	Saline	Far West
35	Lake Wollumboola	Coastal	Mid North Coast
36	Wonboyn Lake	Coastal	Mid North Coast
37	Lake Woytchugga	Freshwater ephemeral
38	Peery Lake	Freshwater ephemeral	Far West	Ramsar	5,026	12,420

Northern Territory

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in the Northern Territory:

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Lake Amadeus	Saline	South-west	103,200	255,013		[11]
2	Corella Lake	Freshwater ephemeral
3	Lake Mackay	Saline	Great Sandy Desert; Gibson Desert; Tanami Desert	349,400	863,386
4	Lake Neale	Saline	South-west	30,000	74,132		[12]
5	Numby Numby	Sinkhole	Gulf of Carpentaria
6	Lake Sylvester	Freshwater ephemeral	Barkly Tableland	200,000	494,211
7	Tarrabool Lake	Freshwater ephemeral	Barkly Tableland	Tarrabool Lake – Eva Downs Swamp System Important Bird Area; Register of the National Estate; DIWA	118,600	293,067
8	Lake Woods	Freshwater ephemeral	Barkly Tableland	Important Bird Area; Longreach Waterhole Protected Area (part)	118,600	293,067
9	Lake Lewis	Saline ephemeral

Queensland

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in Queensland:

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Lake Awoonga	Freshwater ephemeral	Central		6,750	16,700
2	Lake Barrine	Volcanic	Far North	Atherton Tableland
3	Blue Lake	Coastal	South East	North Stradbroke Island	500	1,236
4	Boobera Lagoon	Freshwater ephemeral	South West
5	Lake Boomanjin	Perched	Fraser Island	Great Sandy National Park	200	494
6	Brown Lake	Coastal	South East	North Stradbroke Island
7	Lake Broadwater	Coastal	South East
8	Lake Buchanan	Saline	North	Desert Uplands	11,700	28,911
9	Lake Como	Coastal	South East
10	Lake Cooloola	Coastal	Wide-Bay
11	Lake Cooroibah	Coastal	South East
12	Lake Cootharaba	Coastal	Wide-Bay	Great Sandy National Park
13	Lake Dunn	Freshwater ephemeral	Central West
14	Lake Eacham	Volcanic	Far North	Atherton Tableland	42,958,277	71,441
15	Lake Elphinstone	Freshwater ephemeral	Central
16	Lake Euramoo	Volcanic	Far North	Tablelands Region	4.4	11
17	Lake Galilee	Saline	Central West		25,700	64,000
18	Lake McKenzie	Perched	Fraser Island	Great Sandy National Park	150	370
19	Lake Nuga Nuga	Freshwater ephemeral	Central Highlands	Nuga Nuga National Park
20	Lake Weyba	Coastal	South East		960	2.372
21	Lake Wabby	Perched	Fraser Island	Great Sandy National Park
22	Lake Yamma Yamma	Saline	South East	Channel Country

South Australia

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in South Australia:

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Lake Albert	Freshwater	Murray Mallee	Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Wetland Ramsar site; Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Important Bird Area
2	Lake Alexandrina				64,900	160,371		[13][14]
3	Lake Blanche	Saline	Far North	Strzelecki Desert Lakes Important Bird Area
4	Blue Lake	Volcanic	Limestone Coast	70	173		[15]
5	Lake Bonney SE	Coastal	Limestone Coast	Canunda National Park	5,056	12,494
6	Lake Bonney Riverland	Freshwater	Riverland
7	Lake Bumbunga	Saline	Mid North	1,388	3,430
8	Lake Cadibarrawirracanna	Saline	Mid North	Woomera Prohibited Area	6,000	14,826		[16]
9	Lake Callabonna	Saline	Far North	Strzelecki Desert Lakes Important Bird Area	16,000	39,537		[17]
10	Coongie Lakes	Wetlands	Far North	Ramsar Site; Innamincka Regional Reserve; Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park; Strzelecki Regional Reserve	2,179,000	5,384,426		[18]
11	Lake Dey Dey	Saline	Far North
12	Lake Dutton	Saline	Far North
13	Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre	Saline endorheic	Far North	Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park; Elliot Price Conservation Park	950,000	2,347,501		[19]
14	Lake Frome	Saline endorheic	Flinders Ranges	Lake Frome Regional Reserve	259,615	641,523
15	Lake Gairdner	Saline endorheic	Eyre Peninsula	Lake Gairdner National Park
16	Lake Gilles	Saline	Eyre Peninsula	Lake Gilles Conservation Park
17	Goyder Lagoon	Ephemeral swamp	Far North
18	Lake Gregory	Saline	Far North
19	Lake Hart	Saline
20	Lake Hope	Saline ephemeral	Far North	Coongie Lakes wetland Ramsar Site	3,600	8,896
21	Lake Miranda	Freshwater ephemeral
22	Seagull Lake	Saline ephemeral	Eyre Peninsula	Sceale Bay Conservation Park	88	217
23	Serpentine Lakes	Saline	Great Victoria Desert	Mamungari Conservation Park	9,700	23,969		[20]
24	Sleaford Mere	Saline endorheic	Eyre Peninsula	Sleaford Mere Conservation Park	707	1,747
25	Lake Torrens	Saline ephemeral	Flinders Ranges	Lake Torrens National Park	574,500	1,419,620		[21]
26	Valley Lake	Volcanic	Limestone Coast
27	Watervalley Wetlands	Contiguous wetlands	Murray Mallee	13,100	32,371

Tasmania

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in Tasmania:

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Lake Beatrice	Freshwater	Western	55	136		[22]
2	Lake Dora	Freshwater	Western	48	119		[23]
3	Dove Lake	Cirque freshwater	Central Highlands	Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park	86	213		[24][25][26]
4	Lake Dulverton	Freshwater ephemeral	Southern Midlands	230	568		[27][28]
5	Lake Edgar	Fault scarp pond	South West	Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area	147	363		[29]
6	Lake Fidler	Meromictic	South West	Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
7	Lake Flannigan	Freshwater	King Island	Game reserve (pending as at 2005)	150	371
8	Great Lake	Freshwater	Central Highlands	17,600	43,491		[30]
9	Jocks Lagoon	Dystrophic lake	Central Northern	Ramsar site	18	44		[31]
10	Little Waterhouse Lake	Freshwater coastal	North East	Ramsar Site	10	25		[32]
11	Lake Meston	Freshwater	Central Northern	Walls of Jerusalem National Park
12	Orielton Lagoon	Dystrophic coastal lagoon	South East Coast	Ramsar Site	3,334	8,240		[33]
13	Lake Selina	Glacial	West Coast
14	Lake St Clair	Freshwater	Central Highlands	Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park	4,500	11,120
15	Lake Westwood	Glacial	West Coast	35	86		[34]

Victoria

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in Victoria.

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Lake Batyo Catyo	Freshwater ephemeral			230	568
2	Lake Corangamite	Saline			23000	56834
3	Gippsland Lakes	Coastal
4	Lake Hindmarsh	Freshwater ephemeral	Wimmera		13500	33000
5	Mallacoota Inlet	Coastal
6	Murtnaghurt Lagoon	Saline			81	200
7	Lake Victoria	Coastal lake			139	340
8	Lake Tali Karng	Freshwater	Alpine		14	35
9	Pink Lake (Victoria)	Saline	Wimmera		45	111

Western Australia

Main article: Lists of lakes of Western Australia

The following is a list of prominent natural lakes and lagoons in Western Australia:

Order	Name	Type	Region	Designation	Area		Image	Notes
					ha	acre
1	Angove Lake	Freshwater	Great Southern	Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve	33	82
2	Lake Anneen	Saline	Mid West	12,000	29,653
3	Lake Baghdad	Saline	Rottnest Island
4	Lake Ballard	Saline ephemeral	Goldfields-Esperance	4,900	12,108		[35]
5	Lake Barlee	Saline	Mid West	198,000	489,269		[36]
6	Bibra Lake	Freshwater	Perth	Beeliar Regional Park
7	Lake Boonderoo	Freshwater	Goldfields-Esperance	2,500	6,178
8	Booragoon Lake	Freshwater	Perth	Beeliar Regional Park				[37]
9	Boyd Lagoon	Saline lagoon	Gibson Desert	870	2,150		[38]
10	Lake Breaden	Saline	Gibson Desert	2,600	6,425		[39][40]
11	Lake Bryde-East Lake Bryde	Freshwater wetland	Great Southern	Lake Bryde Nature Reserve	1,900	4,695		[41]
12	Lake Burnside	Saline	Gibson Desert	42,000	103,784		[42]
13	Lake Carey	Saline	Goldfields-Esperance
14	Lake Carnegie	Ephemeral	Goldfields-Esperance	571,400	1,411,960		[43][44]
16	Lake Dora	Saline	Pilbara
17	Dumbleyung Lake	Saline	Great Southern	Dumbleyung Lake Nature Reserve	5,200	12,849
18	Lake Dundas	Saline	Goldfields-Esperance
19	Forrestdale Lake	Brackish seasonal groundwater	Perth	Forrestdale Lake Nature Reserve; Forrestdale and Thomsons Lakes Ramsar Site	245	605		[45]
20	Lake Gore	Seasonal freshwater	Goldfields-Esperance	Lake Gore Nature Reserve; Lake Gore Ramsar Site	740	1,829		[46]
21	Lake Gregory	Seasonal freshwater	Kimberley	Paraku Indigenous Protected Area
22	Herdsman Lake	Freshwater	Perth	Herdsman Lake Regional Park	300	741		[47]
23	Lake Hillier	Saline	Goldfields-Esperance	Recherche Archipelago Nature Reserve	1.5	4		[48]
24	Hutt Lagoon	Saline	Mid West
25	Lake Jasper	Freshwater	South West	4,500	11,120		[49]
26	Lake Joondalup	Freshwater	Perth	Yellagonga Regional Park
27	Jualbup Lake	Freshwater	Perth	Shenton Park
15	Kumpupintil Lake	Saline endorheic	Pilbara	33,000	81,545		[50]
28	Lake Lefroy	Saline ephemeral	Goldfields-Esperance
29	Lake Mackay	Saline	Great Sandy Desert	349,400	863,386		[51]
30	Lake McLarty	Freshwater	South West	Lake McLarty Nature Reserve; Peel-Yalgorup System Ramsar site
31	Lake Macleod	Freshwater	Gascoyne	150,000	370,658
32	Loch McNess	Freshwater	Perth	Yanchep National Park				[52]
33	Lake Magenta	Saline ephemeral	Wheatbelt	Lake Magenta Nature Reserve	11,000	27,182		[53]
34	Lake Maitland	Dry saline	Mid West
35	Lake Monger	Freshwater	Perth	Lake Monger Reserve	70	173
36	Lake Monginup	Freshwater	Goldfields-Esperance	Lake Monginup Nature Reserve	32	79		[54]
37	Lake Muir	Freshwater	South West	Muir-Byenup System Ramsar Site	4	10		[55][56]
38	Lake Nabberu	Saline	Mid West	18,000	44,479		[57]
39	Lake Newell		Goldfields-Esperance	2,600	6,425		[58]
40	North Lake	Freshwater	Perth	Beeliar Regional Park
41	Perry Lakes	Freshwater	Perth	Perry Lakes Reserve	12.6	31		[59]
42	Perth Wetlands	Wetlands	Perth	Herdsman Lake Regional Park
43	Pink Lake	Saline	Goldfields-Esperance	99	245		[60]
44	Lake Seppings	Freshwater	South West	Lake Seppings Nature Reserve				[61]
45	Serpentine Lakes	Saline	Great Victoria Desert	Mamungari Conservation Park	9,700	23,969		[20]
46	Lake Shaster	Hypersaline	Goldfields-Esperance	Lake Shaster Nature Reserve	479	1,184		[62]
47	Lake Thetis	Saline	Mid West
48	Thomsons Lake	Brackish seasonal groundwater	Perth	Thomsons Lake Nature Reserve; Forrestdale and Thomsons Lakes Ramsar Site	538	1,329
49	Toolibin Lake	Perched freshwater	Wheatbelt	Toolibin Lake Nature Reserve; Toolibin Lake Ramsar Site	300	741		[63]
50	Lake Warden	Saline	Goldfields-Esperance	Lake Warden Nature Reserve	59	146		[64]
51	Lake Way	Dry saline	Mid-West	46,000	113,668		[65]
52	Lake Wooleen	Intermittent freshwater	Mid-West	5,500	13,591

See also

• List of reservoirs and dams in Australia

References

External links

Media related to Lakes of Australia at Wikimedia Commons