Lake Barlee
Lake Barlee is an intermittent salt lake in Western Australia. It covers about 2,000 square kilometres, making it the state's second largest lake. The lake sits on the Yilgarn block, between Youanmi and Bullfinch, near the borders of the Sandstone and Menzies shires. It runs more than 100 kilometres from west to east and about 80 kilometres from north to south. The area is built from ancient groundwater-fed palaeovalleys with bare beds, greenstone rock islands, and samphire plants.
Most years the lake is dry, but it can fill when tropical cyclones bring rain. It typically fills about once every ten years, and the water can stay for six to nine months. When flooded, Lake Barlee becomes an important breeding site for waterbirds, especially the banded stilt.
The Mantjintjarra Ngalia people are the traditional owners of the region. The lake was named in 1869 by explorer John Forrest after Frederick Barlee, Western Australia’s Colonial Secretary. Lake Barlee and nearby small lakes are recognized as an Important Bird Area because they support large breeding events, including a record of 179,000 banded stilt nests. Other birds that breed there include black swans, Australian shelducks, pink-eared ducks, white-headed stilts, and red-capped plovers.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:49 (CET).