Lake Blanche facts for kids

Lake Blanche is a really big salt lake located in the northeastern part of South Australia. Most of the time, it's dry, like a huge, flat desert. But sometimes, it fills up with water from local floods or when the Strzelecki Creek flows into it. This amazing lake covers an area of about 170,000 hectares (which is about 420,000 acres)!

Discovering Lake Blanche

When the explorer Edward John Eyre first saw Lake Blanche in 1840, he thought it was part of a giant, horseshoe-shaped lake. He believed this huge lake blocked explorers from traveling further north. Another explorer, Charles Sturt, visited the lake in 1845 and also thought it was part of a much larger body of water.

It wasn't until 1858 that Augustus Charles Gregory, another explorer, found a way to travel between Lake Blanche and Lake Callabonna. This was a big step for exploring the area!

How Lake Blanche Got Its Name

Lake Blanche was named after the wife of the Governor of South Australia at the time, Sir Richard Graves McDonnell. He was an important leader in the government. Before the lake was officially named, the area nearby had been called Blanchewater Plains by explorer Benjamin Herschel Babbage in 1856.

In August 1857, a person named Captain Freeling tried to explore the flooded lake using a boat. However, the water wasn't deep enough for the boat to float properly. Even after walking more than 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) into the lake, the water was still only ankle-deep! This shows how shallow the lake can be, even when it's "full."

What's Happening at Lake Blanche Today?

The land around Lake Blanche is currently being explored for a special kind of mining. People are looking into developing a uranium mine there. Uranium is a metal used for many things, including making electricity.