Vol. No. Vol. 2518No. 1927
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Wednesday,November January 13, 2016 Wednesday, 9, 2022
EXCITING TIMES: Jeparit artist Gayle Newcombe, who specialises in pet and wildlife paintings, with her dog Maisie, enjoys spending time at the water’s edge at Lake Hindmarsh. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
‘Water brings life’ F
BY MICHAEL SCALZO
or the first time in more than a decade, Jeparit is a lakeside town again.
Heavy spring flows along the Wimmera River are making their way to the river system’s penultimate catchment, Lake Hindmarsh, as Jeparit residents wake to the sound of street traffic and lake-attracted birdlife. Jeparit residents say the roads in and out of town are getting busier as they consider the benefits an even partially-full Lake Hindmarsh could have across the shire. Jeparit artist Gayle Newcombe lives near the lake’s edge and said weekend visitors and caravaners are rolling through town to witness the lake’s ecological return.
“Water brings life,” she said. “There are a lot of people coming through town to see the lake and the roads are getting busier, too. “It is really amazing for me. As a wildlife artist, birds that haven’t been here in years are coming back and they are breeding because there is water and food again for them.” Judd Spokes, who owns Four Mile Beach campground on the lake’s edge at Jeparit, said as the lake starts to fill, increasing numbers of tourists to the town are providing an ‘obvious boost’ to the town’s energy. “There is definitely a whole lot more people around and speaking to people around the place, everyone is noticing the weekends are getting busier,” he said. “When the lake was dry, there might
be some motorbike riders or horse riders who would drop in for a night. Now, there are more people coming to the town and they are staying longer – the Melbourne Cup long weekend was busy in Jeparit.” Mr Spokes said increasing visitor numbers are reminding him of Jeparit’s yesteryear, when his parents bought the town’s supermarket in 1993. “I remember helping them in the shop and there would be a huge amount of people camping in town throughout the long-weekend and holiday breaks,” he said. “As always happens, when it dries up, all that goes away. “While the lake is not at that level yet, it is good to see more people coming here.”
Wimmera Catchment Management Authority chief executive Dave Brennan said Lake Hindmarsh reached 75percent capacity after Wimmera River flooding in 2011, was at five percent in 2016, and despite heavy January 2021 rain, ‘reached less than one percent’. He said he estimated the lake was now about 35 percent full. “I would say it is has between 120 and 150 gigalitres in it now, however it is difficult to know because there are no gauges and the lake receives heavy natural runoff,” he said. Mr Brennan said Lake Albacutya, the final lake in the catchment, had not received ‘decent’ flows since the early 1990s. Hindmarsh Shire deputy mayor Brett Ireland said he hoped some late summer rain and a wet winter in 2023
could provide the lake and its lakeside towns an extended and sustained fulllake experience. “It would be amazing if the lake could hold its own throughout summer and could break-even against any evaporation by autumn,” he said. “With a wet winter again, which our farmers would take every time, we might see some real action in Lake Hindmarsh and Albacutya next summer. “It takes about two years of water to fill.” Cr Ireland described how he believed a modern Jeparit could use the lake to its advantage. “Jeparit is a lake town without a fulltime lake,” he said. Continued page 3
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