AUSTRALIA'S MYSTERY LAKE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 13 April 1922, Page 2

AUSTRALIA'S MYSTERY LAKE.

EXPEDITION TO INVESTIGATE.

SYDNEY. March 29

An attempt to solve the secret of the •"Mystery" Lake—for that is the title given by scientists to Lake Eyre, in the interior of Australia—will shortly b« made by a scientific expedition. Seven rivers from the hills miles away ■• penetrate the desert of Australia's interior to finally tumble their contents into the broad waters of Lake Eyre. In the rainy season these rivers become -enormous flooded areas, miles wide. The Diamantina and the Cooper have been known to reach a width "of 25 to 30 miles. For months great quantities of water are emptied into the "mystery lake, swelling it to its fullest capacity. The mystery is this: Lake Eyre has no outlet, yet in a surprisingly short time the broad inland sea becomes a lake again. The oceans of flood water simply vanish. Science is frankly per_ turbed. It has been suggested that, perhaps, deep down there are great subterranean^ rivers^ continually draining off the surplus. »

A move is to be made in a month or two by an expert hydrographer, Mr. G. Halligan, of Sydney,, to solve the interior's mysteries. He has already had a glimpse of the "mystery" lake, for last month he made a "non-stop flight of ■400 miles in an aeroplane from the nearest settlement to the lake. He describes the lake and its surroundings as dreary desolation typified. It is about 100 miles long and 50 wide, with only a third of the basin covered with water. The remainder is a film of salt, overlying black, oozy mud. He deprecates the suggestion that the lake phenomenon might be caused by rapid evaporation. The disappearance of such a large quantity of water eatild not possibly be caused, by evaporation, in his opinion.

The objects of the expedition which lie will undertake will be "to explore the waters of the lake and see what fish and other creatures, inhabit it. A small boring apparatus will be taken and bores sunk in the bed of the lake if practicable. The probable outlet of the artesian basin will be investigated, and a determined attempt to elucidate this conundrum will b« made.