Lake Leake

Lake Leake (palawa kani: kunawi) is the name of both a man-made water storage reservoir and a small township (Australian Postcode 7210) in the eastern midlands of Tasmania.

Lake Leake (palawa kani: kunawi) is the name of both a man-made water storage reservoir and a small township (Australian Postcode 7210) in the eastern midlands of Tasmania. The locality is split between two local authorities, as follows:

Northern Midlands Council (53%),

Glamorgan-Spring Bay Council (47%)The lake can hold 22.076 gigalitres (779,600,000 cu ft) of water.The lake was named after Charles Henry Leake a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council. At the 2006 census, Lake Leake had a population of 176.

The traditional custodians of the area were the Peenrymairmemener clan of the North Midlands Nation. The area was originally a wetland, or series of lagoons, and was transcribed by Europeans as koan.ner.we (written in palawa kani as kunawi).The area was described by contemporary colonial British as a 'resort of the natives' - an aboriginal meeting place, and contemporaries describe finding several aboriginal huts in the area. The area contains remains of aboriginal artifacts and a quarry where the Peenrymairmemener crafted stone tools.The area was renamed by colonials 'Kearney's Bogs' and then Lake Leake after the dam was constructed.The reservoir was constructed after a long debate. A 5-metre (16 ft) high dam was finished in 1884. The initial capacity was 19.9 cubic metres (700 cu ft) and an area of 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). In 1971 the spillway highest point was raised by 18 centimetres (7.1 in) to increase storage capacity. Water is released for irrigation and also stored to maintain a fishing facility. Lake Leake is usually at least half full.