Lake Burbury
Lake Burbury is a man-made water reservoir created by the Crotty Dam inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. Discharge from the reservoir feed the John Butters Hydroelectric Power Station, owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The reservoir was named in honour of Stanley Burbury, a former Governor of Tasmania.
Water source
The lake is fed mainly by rivers from the north, including the upper King River, and the Eldon River. Valleys that open to the area include the Linda Valley. It also has a natural lake just north of its northern shore known as Lake Beatrice which is at the eastern end of Mount Sedgwick. It has a surface area of 54 square kilometres (21 sq mi).
Fishing
It is popular as a fishing lake, but is susceptible to extreme weather. Its feeder rivers are the upper King, Nelson, Princess, and Eldon Rivers. There are design features in the Crotty Dam to lower the surface level rapidly in the event of severe floodwaters.
The lake has the 'Bradshaw' bridge crossing it to connect the Lyell Highway across it, and has two dams - one in the King River Gorge - the Crotty Dam, and the other adjacent to Mount Darwin, the Darwin Dam.