Burdekin Falls Dam - Thurs 12th to Sun 15th November

This park, operated by SunWater, on the site of the dam construction town, is an oasis of green in a fairly barren landscape.

Dalrymple Reservoir with Mount Mc Connell in the back ground.

Part of the Camp Park.

Some of  the day visitor area.

One of the resident peacocks with the employee housing in the back ground.

It is fairly hard to see, but centre photo is the viewing platform accessible from the day visitor park. This shot is taken from the dam spillway.

This is the view from the lookout platform in the previous photo.

The park is also at the end of the bitumen road, 120 km from Mingela on the Flinders Highway. At this time, only a month or so from the 'Wet Season', the Dalrymple Reservoir is still fairly full. One or two decent downpours and the water will again be cascading down the spillway.

The day visitor and camp parks are on the crest of the hill beyond the dam.

There are several walks available (not marked) and the fishing is excellent for those who have a permit. The reservoir is also a popular water sport haven, with several ski boats and Sea-Doos scorching around the crystalline water over the weekend.

Ski boat on the reservoir centre photo, the boat ramp is just right of where the boat is.

It is much quieter on a weekday. This is also a great park for families, not much harm can come to kids, they can pretty well wander where they choose and they love the swimming pool (salties are known to be in the reservoir). The dam is one of the largest in Queensland and probably Australia, and took five years to construct.

Look closely at the road way at the bottom of the spillway, mid photo you will see a semi trailer truck and a motor home following. This shot demonstrates the magnitude of the dam wall.

Down stream from the spillway. With minor flooding, 10,000 m3/sec, all these rocky areas are covered in water flow.

The Dalrymple Reservoir goes back for over 20 km.

Full shot of the wall looking back to the camp park.

The wall height can be extended and there is provision to add a hydro power station. I guess they wont increase the capacity as they don't use most of the water that they have stored now. But why aren't installing an hydro power station now? There is water flowing from the 'pentstocks' continually therefore the power generated would be base load and virtually free.

The water is released to flow down the Burdekin River under the road way.

The Burdekin River Falls, hence the name of the dam wall.