Lake Argyle

In the tropical northeast of the Kimberley region the Ord River has been dammed by the 67m high Top Dam to form Lake Argyle, which has an area of 740 sq.km and stores water for the irrigation of 70,000ha of land during the dry season.

Plans for large-scale irrigation schemes were conceived after the Second World War, when great efforts were being made to develop and populate the empty tropical northern regions of Australia. The Top Dam, completed in 1971, created a reservoir nine times the size of Sydney Harbor, drowning whole valleys and turning the summits of hills into islands. The red slopes on the shores of the lake attract birds, lizards and marsupials.

From the outset the Ord River project had its critics, and the ambitious plans for large-scale irrigation and a resultant increase in prosperity and population were not realized. From the point of view of tourism, however, the project has been a great success.

From Lake Argyle Tourist Village, near the main dam, there are cruises on the lake, angling expeditions and walking trails.

Argyle Downs Homestead, a stone house built by the Durack family in 1886 after a two-year trek driving their cattle from Queensland to the Kimberley region, was taken down before the construction of the dam and re-erected as a museum near the tourist village.