About Lake Bindegolly

Park features

Lake Bindegolly National Park conserves one of the most important wetland systems in south-west Queensland.

Photo credit: Karen Smith © Queensland Government

Gnarled wattles standing above a low shrub layer break the burnt orange slopes leading down to a series of glistening lakes. Lake Bindegolly National Park conserves one of the most important wetland systems in south-west Queensland.

A string of lakes—Bindegolly, Toomaroo and Hutchinson—are found in Lake Bindegolly National Park. Several unnamed freshwater lakes are also found on private property to the south of the park. Although each lake is a separate basin, they join to form a ribbon of water after heavy rainfall in local catchments. At times thousands of waterbirds flock to this inland oasis to feed and to breed.

The diverse 14,000ha Lake Bindegolly National Park also has samphire flats, claypans, sand dunes, hard and soft red mulga country, gidgee woodlands, and Eremophila shrublands. The park was established in 1991 to protect the Acacia ammophila tree which grows along the sand dunes fringing the eastern side of the lakes. This is one of only two known populations of this gnarled tree which is threatened with extinction.

On the western side of the lake, Mulga-studded gibber plains rise to a ridge known locally as Mt Bindegolly.

• Read more about the nature, culture and history of Lake Bindegolly National Park.

Looking after the park

The lake margins and samphire flats within Lake Bindegolly are extremely fragile.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Robert Ashdown

Please help preserve this park's exceptional natural and cultural values by following these few common sense rules:

• Leave everything as you find it. This includes plants, animals, rocks and artefacts.
• No boating or fishing is allowed on the lakes.
• The lakes' margins and samphire flats are extremely fragile. Stay on established tracks and obey all road signs. Careless driving off the tracks will result in long-term scarring of these areas.
• Leave your pets at home. Pets frighten wildlife, annoy other visitors, can become lost and are prohibited in the park.
• Firearms and other weapons must not be used in national parks.
• Use a fuel stove to boil your billy.
• Never contaminate lakes and rivers with detergents, soap, shampoos or human waste.
• Bury toilet waste at least 15cm deep and 150m from any watercourse or lake. Toilet paper is slow to break down in arid areas, so please burn toilet paper if it is safe to do so.
• Please remove your rubbish when you leave. Do not bury or burn. Buried rubbish provides food for wildlife and feral animals.

See Caring for parks for more information about protecting our environment and heritage in parks.

Park management

Formerly a grazing property, Lake Bindegolly National Park was declared in 1991 to protect the Acacia ammophila trees and conserve representative samples of landscapes, vegetation and wildlife in the Mulga Lands Biogeographic Region.

The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service manage Lake Bindegolly National Park under the Nature Conservation Act 1992.

Tourism information links

Contact the information centres below for more information about activities, tours and accommodation in this region.

Cunnamulla Visitor Information Centre
www.paroo.qld.gov.au
Centenary Park, Jane Street, Cunnamulla, QLD 4490
ph (07) 4655 8470
fax (07) 4655 1120
email cunnamullainfo@paroo.qld.gov.au

Thargomindah Visitor Information Centre
www.explorebulloo.com.au
37 Dowling Street, Thargomindah Qld 4492
ph 07 4621 8095
tourism@bulloo.qld.gov.au

For tourism information for all regions in Queensland see Queensland Holidays.

Check with the Department of Transport and Main Roads or call 13 19 40 for local and main road conditions before setting out.