History of Lake Mulwala

Anyone who has visited Yarrawonga or Mulwala will recognise the dead trees in Lake Mulwala. However when the lake is lowered, or partially lowered as it is at present, the onlooker gets a much better picture of just how much of the forest was flooded. Over the eighty five years many of the trees have rotted away and broken off at water level leaving stumps which are only visible when the lake is lowered.

When the Yarrawonga weir was built between 1936 and 1939, the purpose was to enable the river to be tamed so that the water supply downstream was more constant and to allow water to be diverted for irrigation. It was the second weir to be built on the Murray River after the Hume weir.

The first image shows some of the dead trees that still stand above the normal waterline. The second image shows the stumps below the waterline when the lake is partially lowered.

Thanks to the hard work of a large group of volunteers, the Lake also became the tourist attraction that it is today as shown in the third image. These visionary men realised that the proposed weir would form a lake from the weir back to the east of the town. By clearing timber and debris the flooding would form a lake which would be suitable for water sports and recreation.

The men were not qualified tree fellers so had to be trained by those who had knowledge of tree felling. After all many of the trees that were felled were 7 feet in diameter and ofter more than 70 feet tall. Each time the lake was lowered in following years more timber and debris was cleared from the lake.

Reference: A Bridge Across Time - A General History or Yarrawonga Mulwala. Written by Alistair Whlie and the Yarrawonga Mulwala Historical Society