About Lake Boga
Location
Lake Boga is the most northerly of the Kerang Lakes and lies approximately 16 km south east of Swan Hill and 40 km north of Kerang. Lake Boga is on the north eastern edge of Victoria’s Mallee Region.
History
Until the mid 1960’s Lake Boga was part of the Torrumbarry Irrigation System, and then it came to rely on floodwaters from the Avoca River and surplus flows from the River Murray when available.
Lake Boga now forms part of the Victorian Mid-Murray Storages (VMMS). The VMMS includes Kow Swamp, Kangaroo Lake, Lake Charm and Lake Boga, with a combined active capacity of nearly 58,000ML.
The Lake Boga Coordination Group, (LBCG) a government agency group was formed and is responsible for the coordination and communication of key transition programs.
The LBCG released the Lake Boga Land and On-Water Management Plan in November, 2011.
Interesting Information
Lake Boga has a fascinating history and began with its naming when Major
Mitchell passed through the area; it also has a rich indigenous past
and strong connections with the Moravian Mission. During World War II
it became the largest inland flying boat repair base with anything up to
1,000 air force personnel based at Lake Boga.
Several books have been written about the area and two that have
provided a great deal of valuable information are “Tresco Estate”,
researched and written by John Jobson, 2007 and “Between the Rivers”,
researched and written by Grant Angus with Colin Heggen and John Jobson,
2009.
More detailed information can be found on the VMMS website.
Land and On-Water Management Plan
The Lake Boga Land and On-Water Management Plan provides a strategic approach to management of land and on-water issues at Lake Boga and was completed in November 2011. The Plan was developed in consultation with community, lake users, local government and other agencies.
The Plan aims to identify and protect important values associated with the lake by outlining priority land and on-water management issues and identifying key issues to be implemented to address these issues. Most importantly, the Plan aims to increase communication, consistency, co-ordination and co-operation between agencies, stakeholder groups and the community to enhance the lake’s values and attributes. The Plan does not make recommendations on storage operational issues, including storage filling and releases, as those decisions are beyond the scope of this plan.
Lake Boga Land and On-Water Management Plan [3.16 Mb]
For more information, visit the Victorian Mid Murray Storages website.
Operations
The VMMS operational objective is to; capture, store and release water for the benefit of the Victorian Murray System users. Water will be harvested into the Victorian Mid-Murray Storages and then returned to the River Murray to supplement down stream bulk water demands.
Individual storages will now experience greater season fluctuations in water levels than in the past, but under the current operating regime the probability of Lake Boga drying up as it did in 2000 for a prolonged period is unlikely. Storage operating levels will be higher in the early months of the irrigation season, particularly October and November.
Goulburn-Murray Water will undertake VMMS operational manager function and will implement the VMMS ‘capture’, ‘store’ and ‘release’ objectives for the benefit of the Victorian Murray System users.