In 1967, the Commonwealth Government provided a grant for the construction of the Ord River Dam to provide a major storage reservoir, called Lake Argyle. It is now one of the world's largest man made water bodies and was formed by an earth and rock filled dam in the Carr Boyd Ranges.
The Ord River Dam was completed in 1972 with the work carried out over three dry seasons. The Dam was designed to never overflow at the main embankment with a 2.2 km overflow cut made thorough solid rock between two hills, 8 kms from the Dam wall, called the Spillway
When the Ord River Dam was completed it became the largest capacity Dam in Australia with a volume equivalent to 84 Sydney Harbours (in wet season).The flow from both Dams this one and the diversion dam I talked about in Kununurra was regulated to maintain a stable level in Lake Argyle...
The dam has a 99 metre high wall ... it is 341 metres long and made of rock fill around a core of impervious clay. There is no concrete in the dam at all....
John and I had the experience of seeing this magnificent structure by driving to it...and driving over it...
We also flew over it on our day out to the Bungle Bungles...
The last viewing was by boat on the Ord River itself....
A true and wonderful experience...further blog tells the story of our Bungle Bungle trip and of our cruise on the Ord River
The Spillway
The Ord Dam
The Ord Dam
The Diversion Dam at Kununurra
The last viewing was by boat on the Ord River itself....
A true and wonderful experience...further blog tells the story of our Bungle Bungle trip and of our cruise on the Ord River
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