It may have taken a bit longer than he'd initially hoped, but Dave Argaet's striking sunken house sculpture on the bed of Lake George is finally living up to its name.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Twelve years ago, the Bungendore stonemason, who dabbles in landscape art, won first prize at Weereewa, the Lake George art festival, for Sands of Time, a miniature house he erected from brick, iron, and timber on the then dry lake surface.
Argaet admits that while building the sculpture in situ, the lake got under his skin.
"Working on the dusty lake, especially near dusk, was bloody eerie," he fessed-up to this column back in 2018. "Just on sunset we all felt a bit weird, a sense of dread, so we packed up and came back the next morning."
He also explained that he hoped the lake would one day fill up again and his sculpture would "become a genuine sunken house".
While the natural elements have not been kind to Sands of Time, with its roof partially blown off and walls beginning to cave in (not to mention the kangaroo carcass found in the chimney), it isn't completely submerged yet.
However, if La Nina continues to deliver summer rains and Lake George rises even higher, then it may only be a matter of time before Argaet's wish is granted.
Send 'er down, Huey!
Wonderful wetland
While there is widespread focus on Lake George's rising water levels, it's not the only ephemeral waterway currently turning heads in our region, especially amongst naturalists.
Anyone who regularly travelled the Federal Highway between Lake George and Goulburn over the past decade will remember that Rowes Lagoon also completely dried out during the last drought. However, when I stopped at the VC Edmondson Rest Area which adjoins the roadside lagoon earlier this week, the water was lapping the picnic shelters - the highest I've seen it in decades. On dusk, the amount of birdlife was akin to a Kakadu waterhole. What a remarkable turnaround from a year or two ago when dust-encrusted tumbleweeds blew across the parched lagoon bed.
So how does the wildlife bounce back so quickly?
According to renowned local naturalist Rainer Rehwinkel who knows the lagoon like the back of his hand, "the plants, animals and microorganisms that live in intermittent wetlands like Rowes Lagoon are finely adapted to the repeated wetting and drying cycles".
"When the wetlands dry out, the plants either store their seeds in the wetland floor, or retreat to long-lived underground storage organs, with their leaves decomposing, releasing nutrients," explains Rehwinkel.
Terrestrial plants actually use these nutrients to grow on the dry lagoon bed during a drought.
"In fact, last time Rowes Lagoon dried up, an endangered plant known as Kerrawang sprang up on the lagoon floor," he says.
When the lagoon begins to fill again, all these terrestrial plants become submerged and die, and release their own nutrients into the water. This helps promote the fresh green growth of wetland plants and algae which in turn provides food for wildlife. At first, it's just invertebrates including zooplankton, and insects, but over time crustaceans like yabbies, small fish, turtles, and ever-increasing numbers of birds return and flourish in the wetland.
"Each species finds its own niche in its preferred microhabitat, according to the depth of the water or the amount and type of vegetation," says Rehwinkel, adding "and then with increasingly dense wetland vegetation, nesting sites for birds become available" and bird numbers increase even more.
You've got to love nature.
Take me there: Rowes Lagoon is located on the Federal Highway just north of Collector and best viewed from the Edmondson VC Rest Area. Take heed of the snake warning signs - tiger snakes are returning in big numbers to feast on the plentiful frogs.
It's all in a name: Many historical documents refer to the lagoon as "Rose(s) Lagoon" - named after the Rose family, who were 19th-century settlers. However, several modern documents, including the in-situ signs (although if you look closely, you can see that the 'Rowes' is a recent addition) call it Rowes Lagoon.
Coastal Havens
It's not just on our surrounding tablelands that waterways are springing to life this summer. Many Canberrans who haven't been to the coast since pre-COVID times, and hence before the drought broke, are noticing many lagoons have become tidal and open to the ocean.
That's because, depending mainly on rainfall levels, many of the best-known lakes and lagoons along our south coast alternate between being open or closed to the ocean. Ecologists refer to these as Intermittently Closed and Open Lakes and Lagoons (ICOLLs). These include Wallaga Lake, Bega River and Bournda Lagoon.
ICOLLs close when ocean waves and tides push sand into their entrance and there is insufficient subsequent freshwater flows into the estuary to keep the channel open. Sometimes, if there is insufficient rain to force a channel through the sand to the ocean, local authorities resort to manually digging an opening to the ocean. This is mainly to alleviate the risk of flooding around the lagoon as it fills with fresh water from heavy rain.
ICOLLS have complex ecosystems and are very important nurseries for some fish species, including snapper that prefers to be in the sea once it matures. However, during the last drought at Wallagoot Lake, an ICOLL just north of Merimbula, post larval snapper became landlocked for so long that they grew well above the minimum legal size of 30cm, some fish approaching 10kg in weight and a metre in length. Wow.
More memories of Canberry Fair
This column's recent trip down memory lane, to reminisce about the heady days of theme park Canberry Fair, which operated in north Watson from 1981 to 1991, prompted a bulging mailbag.
"Living in Watson, I greatly regret the demise of the Canberry Fair," laments Jack Palmer. "There is at least still one remaining echo of the fair - Clancy's Walking Track on Mt Majura, named after the restaurant-cum-pub that operated there for many years."
The column also flushed out several other Canberrans who worked there, including Tracy Bennett. "It was the best job ever," recalls Tracy, who worked in the Super Dog Saloon, Games Hall, and on many of the rides. "It was a great social scene with all my workmates, we were like family."
For Tracy Lam who worked "firstly as a kitchen hand and then as a barista in the Millhouse", it was a family affair. Her dad worked in Clancy's restaurant, while "no one was jealous of mum's job which included supervising the Gravitron, also known as the 'Vomitron' for obvious reasons".
In fact, while is seems just about everyone fondly recalls the gentle swan ride in the central lagoon, the gravity-defying Gravitron divided opinion. Bernadette Malycha "went on it nine times in a row and loved it" and Kip Deveson and his mates "rode the Gravitron then ate hotdogs to see who could keep them down" then repeated until they had a winner. However, poor old Peter Cox of Bowral "left quickly" after one of his kids "was sick all over it". Oh dear.
Finally, Neal Gowen - who regularly took his kids to the 1980s Canberra landmark - says "having fun seemed a lot simpler then". So true. Spurred on by his trip down memory lane, Neal even dug out a Canberry Fair souvenir spoon which was part of his late mother's collection, featuring the fair's infamous camels.
WHERE ON THE SOUTH COAST?
Rating: Medium
Cryptic Clue: Go on, take a punt at the answer
Last week: Congratulations to Ian McKenzie of Fisher who correctly identified last week's photo of a beacon on the southern breakwall at Narooma near "Australia Rock".
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday, January 8, 2022, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
SPOTTED
This recently painted marker with the metal tag stamped MONICA was forgotten, covered by grass for many years in a small park in Wongoola Close, O'Connor. However, Colin Trinder reports "it recently has come to prominence again having been noticed by the urban authorities and been carefully excavated and painted yellow".
"Obviously, it relates to some survey marker as it is on a hilltop - but [is] different to the usual brass ones I have seen elsewhere," reports Colin. But who is Monica? Is she an acronym, a code, perhaps a long-dead pet buried and commemorated in the park - or something more sinister? Someone must know.
SIMULACRA CORNER
Did Rudolph get lost on his way back to the North Pole? Lauren Ogden thinks so, especially after she spotted this reindeer with over-sized antlers on a recent trek up Mt Murray on the ACT/NSW border.