Natural feature
Brown Lake
Tea-dark perched lake fed only by rainfall, ringed by tea-tree scrub over an ancient sand crust.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Brown Lake, the tannin-stained rainwater lake on North Stradbroke Island the Quandamooka people call Bummiera, follows a real puzzle in the water: for as long as anyone measured it, the lake held almost no fish. It traces the geology that sealed the lake off from the island's water table, then the January two thousand fourteen bushfire and the firefighting helicopters that worked its lakes. Paddle out over the same dark, surprisingly clear water today.
This audio guide was created using AI.