Lake Bonney SE

For the other South Australian lake of the same name, see Lake Bonney Riverland.

Lake Bonney SE
Coonunda or Canunda
Lake Bonney SE Location in South Australia
Location	Canunda, South Australia
Coordinates	37°45′56″S 140°20′35″E
Type	Brackish freshwater
Primary inflows	Natural inflows
Primary outflows	Evaporation; Southern Ocean
Catchment area	430 km2 (170 sq mi)
Basin countries	Australia
Max. length	23 km (14 mi)
Max. width	4 km (2.5 mi)
Surface area	79 km2 (31 sq mi)
Average depth	3 m (9.8 ft)

Lake Bonney SE (alternative name: Coonunda or Canunda) is a coastal freshwater lake located in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia in the gazetted locality of Canunda. It has a surface area of 79 square kilometres (31 sq mi).

The lake is located 450 km (280 mi) south east of Adelaide and 13 km (8 mi) south west of Millicent. The Canunda National Park lies adjacent to the lake shore.

Naming

The lake was named Lake Bonney in 1844 by George Grey, the then Governor of South Australia.

The name was proposed in 1916 to be changed by the Nomenclature Committee to "Coonunda Lake" but was not actioned without any reason provided. "Coonunda" or "Canunda" is the Aboriginal name for the lake.

In both 1972 and 1981, the District Council of Barmera wrote to the South Australian Government requesting that the lake be renamed with its native name, i.e. "Canunda" or "Coonunda", in order to avoid being confused with the lake in the Riverland of South Australia. In response to the request sent in 1981, the Geographical Names Board renamed both lakes as "Lake Bonney, Riverland" and "Lake Bonney SE" in order to differentiate between the lakes. A further request for a name change sent in 1989 by the District Council of Barmera was not approved by the Geographical Names Board.

See also

• List of lakes of South Australia
• Lake Bonney Wind Farm

References

• "Lake Bonney South East, South Australia: Past, Present and Possible Future" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2007. (557 KiB)