Lake Torrens National Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lake Torrens National Park |
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IUCN Category Ia (Strict Nature Reserve)
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| Nearest town/city | Woomera |
| Coordinates | 31°02′40″S 137°51′35″E / 31.04444°S 137.85972°E |
| Area | 5,677 km² |
| Established | 1991 |
| Managing authorities | Department for Environment and Heritage |
| Official site | Lake Torrens National Park pdf |
Lake Torrens National Park is a large national park in South Australia. It is about 345 kilometers (214 miles) north of Adelaide. The park protects the area around Lake Torrens. This is a huge, dry salt lake. It covers about 5,700 square kilometres (2,200 square miles).
Lake Torrens is part of a very long, sunken area of land called a rift valley. The Spencer Gulf is also part of this same valley. Even though it's usually dry, Lake Torrens has filled with water twice in the last 150 years.
Amazing Wildlife at Lake Torrens
When Lake Torrens fills with water, it becomes a lively home for many birds. In 2010, when the lake was full, about 150,000 Banded Stilts came to visit. These special birds can only lay their eggs and raise their young on islands in flooded salt lakes.
Banded Stilts have only bred in South Australia seven times in the last 70 years. The last time before 2010 was at Lake Eyre in 2000. When the salt lakes are dry, these stilts live at the Coorong Lakes. They wait there until the big salt lakes fill up again.
Exploring Lake Torrens: A Look Back in Time
The first European explorer to find Lake Torrens was Edward John Eyre in 1839. For many years, people thought Lake Torrens was a giant, horseshoe-shaped salt lake. They believed it completely blocked any way to travel into the center of Australia.
However, this idea was later proven wrong. The first European to get past this supposed barrier was A. C. Gregory. He did this from the north in March 1858. Later that same year, another group led by Benjamin Herschel Babbage and Major Warburton also crossed the area. They found there was no barrier near modern Marree.
It turned out that Eyre's "horseshoe lake" was actually six separate large salt lakes. These lakes are Lake Frome, Lake Callabonna, Lake Blanche, Lake Gregory, Lake Eyre South, and Lake Torrens itself.
See also
In Spanish: Parque nacional Lago Torrens para niños
