The Bjelke Petersen Dam was constructed over the period 1984 to 1988. The lake was originally named Lake Barambah after the original property in the region and has since been renamed the Bjelke Petersen Dam. The dam supplies water to the South Burnett region of Queensland, for irrigation purposes and also nearby towns for town water.
The Bjelke Petersen Dam wall is 540 metres long and 34 metres high. The dam is quite shallow and is fed from the following creeks:
- Barker Creek,
- Four Mile Creek,
- Six Mile Creek,
- Frickey Creek,
- Cattle Creek.
The Bjelke Petersen Dam is 15 kilometres from Murgon. The dam covers 2,500 hectares, and holds 1,450,000 megalitres of water, which is used for irrigation and water supply to the towns of Murgon and Cherbourg.
Koalas, wallabies and kangaroos can be seen around the lake while the birdlife includes black swans, ducks, pelicans and cormorants. This dam is also a popular fresh water fishing spot for Golden Perch (also known as Yellowbelly), Australian Bass and Silver Perch.
This dam is a really beautiful spot for photography as there are a wide range of bird species in the area. There are both water birds and many other birds surrounding the lake.
I was surprised to see rabbits here as it is illegal to bring rabbits into Queensland, but I guess the rabbits did not know that they should not be there.
There are many Pelicans on the lake and I managed to catch this one in flight.
I managed to catch the above Pelican flying just after it took off as I approached it.
The Pelicans gather together in groups around the lake edges and are quite easy to photograph with a long lens.
I love photographing Pelicans as they can sometime get up to some unusual antics if you can get close enough. The one below was showing off the size of his beak.
The kookaburras at Bjelke Petersen Dam were very quiet and relatively easy to approach for photographs.
The Superb Blue wrens are always beautiful to photograph and this female was flitting around the edges of the lake.
The Eastern Great Egret is a really beautiful bird, sometimes difficult to get close enough but this one below really cooperated with me.
One of the highlights at the Bjelke Petersen Dam was the beautiful King Parrots, they were so quiet and loved being photographed. The King Parrots in the image below are the male and female. The female is mostly green with the male having a red head and red breast. I was really happy to get both the male and female together in the one image.
The image below is of the female, Although not as pretty as the male bird she is still very pretty.
The beautiful male is below with his bright red head and red breast perched in a nearby tree.
For all the above images at The Bjelke Petersen Dam I used the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E lens with a D810 camera.
For bird photography similar to the above images I recommend the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 lens which can be purchased at B&H.