Top 10 Amazing Facts about Lake Hillier

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Lake Hillier

One of the most fascinating lakes in the world can be found on a relatively small island off the coast of Australia.

The location of the lake is at the border of Middle Island in the Goldfields-Esperance region. The island is considered the largest in Recherche Archipelago.  Lake Huron is divided from the Southern Ocean by a thin and long shore.

1. It’s located on an island in Western Australia

The lake is located on the Recherche Archipelago in the Goldfields-Esperance region, which is one of the 9 regions that make up the state of Western Australia. It’s located just off the coast of the mainland, about 9 kilometers (6 miles) from Cape Arid, a National Park in the state.

The island is called Middle Island and it’s the biggest in the archipelago. It covers an area of 1,080 hectares (2,669 acres) and has a length of about 6.5 kilometers (4 miles). The main population of the island consists of the tammar wallaby, a small member of the marsupial family.

The pink lake in Australia is a remarkable sight on the island, even from a distance!

2. Lake Hillier is a relatively small lake

As it’s located on a relatively small island, the lake is pretty small as well. It only has a length of about 600 meters (2,000 feet) and a width of 250 meters (820 feet), which isn’t much larger than a pond.

That being said, it’s one of the most fascinating lakes on the planet because of its pink bubblegum color when looked at from above.

3. Only a few sand dunes separate it from the ocean

As you might have noticed, there isn’t much land between the lake and the ocean. Only a few dunes covered in dense woodland consisting of paperbark and eucalyptus trees separate it from the ocean nearby.

This also means that it’s a saline or “salt lake” with extremely high levels of salt content. The salt levels are comparable to those of the Dead Sea on the border of Jordan and Israel, one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet with salt levels up to 9.6 times higher than in the ocean.

Yes, this pretty much allows you to sit in the water as if you sit in a chair without having to put to stay afloat!

4. The water of the lake is permanently pink

While pink lakes are not that common, it’s not the only pink lake in the world. Better yet, it’s not even the only pink lake in Australia as the country features multiple of these remarkable natural wonders. Some of these include (but are not limited to) Lake Eyre in the Outback of South Australia and Lake Hart in Woomera in South Australia.

Even though the water of the lake appears to be extremely pink, this isn’t as much the case when viewed up close. That being said, one of the most remarkable facts about Lake Hillier is that the water remains pink, even after it’s extracted from the lake.

The reason is most probably because of the presence of red algae called “Dunaliella salina” which turns the salt in the water into a pinkish hue, producing the remarkable color of the lake.

5. The lake was first discovered by Europeans in 1802

The first European to lay his eyes upon the lake (that we know of from written records) was an English explorer named Matthew Flinders. He visited Middle Island on January 15, 1802, and saw the lake after ascending the highest peak on the island.

This 185-meter (607 feet) high peak is now referred to as “Flinders Peak” and allowed him to view the remarkable pink lake.

6. It was named after a man who passed away during the 2nd expedition

Matthew Flinders was fascinated by the lake because he visited Middle Island again the following year to extract some salt from it. It was then, on May 20, 1803, that one of his crew members died of dysentery right before they were about to leave again.

That’s when Flinders decided to name the lake after William Hillier, the crew member of the “HMS Investigator.” This was the ship they used to explore the coasts of Australia and the first ship to circumnavigate all of Australia. 

7. The salt-mining business on the island wasn’t a great success

The first time a real effort was done to explore the possibility to extract salt from the lake was in 1889 when a man named Edward Andrews examined whether he could set up a commercial enterprise on the island.

A salt mine was set up subsequently and it was operational in the late 19th century. This didn’t last for more than 6 years, however, mainly because of the high level of toxicity from the salt collected from the lake.

8. Is it possible to swim in the lake?

Middle Island and therefore Hillier Lake, have been included in the Recherche Archipelago Nature Reserve since 2012. This means it’s now part of a protected area and the island can only be accessed via a licensed tour operator.

9.  Matthew Flinders’ expedition at Lake Hillier

On 15th January 1802, Matthew Flinders’ expedition visited Lake Hillier for the first time. The records about the lake were first written in the journal entries of Flinders.

 Flinders went to the highest peak of the island and found the pink lake from the top. Today, people call the peak Flinders Peak.

10. The only living organism in Lake Hillier is Dunaliella salina

Dunaliella salina is the only living organism in Lake Hillier. This organism creates a pink tone in the water and increases the salinity.