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Celebrate the miracle of the lake

Posted on October 10, 2008, 6:06pm ,  1 views

I received a letter this week from a former editor of The Border Watch, Stewart Kieselbach, which will be published in the print edition next week.

Stewart reminisces about the time decades ago when he was involved with promoting the annual “turning” of the Blue Lake to its brilliant summer hue.

“The Blue Lake is the region’s number one tourist attraction and no opportunity should be lost to capitalise on and exploit the annual turning,” he wrote.

In a background note to me he said those involved used to bottle lake water and send it to mayors across Australia as a publicity move for Mount Gambier, accompanied by telegrams.

“The whole procedure was a success,” Stewart said (while acknowledging the technology has changed).

He also bemoaned the acceptance of the lake’s description as “grey” for much of the year.

In his letter, Stewart says “forget about the non-existent grey colour. There is no grey colour. It might be navy blue over autumn, winter and spring, but come the approach of summer, and the transformation occurs …” to its “brilliant Blue Lake blue”.

“Properly handled, it’s national news,” he says.

I’m new to Mount Gambier, but it seems obvious to me the community should celebrate the “turning” of the lake and promote this unique occurrence. What do others think?

MICHAEL GOREY

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Comments

3 Responses to “Celebrate the miracle of the lake”

  1. Ebony Jackson on October 10th, 2008 6:24 pm 1

    I have only live here for 6 years.
    I know little of the history, or the phenomenon of the Lake….seems like a good idea though.

  2. jabbathehut on October 10th, 2008 7:08 pm 2

    Absolutely this should take place. I would prefer the whole area be void of traffic and made into a fantastic national park. What a wonderful piece of natural history for our region.

  3. Julie on October 11th, 2008 2:52 pm 3

    What a great idea! ANOTHER national park . We need a few more. Haven’t really got enough, have we? Why not turn the whole country into national park? The governing bodies can’t handle what they have. In control of them we have people with degrees but no practical experience and no commonsemse, hence roaring bushfires out of control every summer. It’s lucky we have volunteer firefighters who actually do know what they’re doing and have an affinity with the land. Before every summer there was “burning off,” for fuel reduction to prevent fires getting away. It was a ritual. Who did it? No, not paid govenment employees - volunteers from county fire brigades.

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