Alternatively it is derived from Wiradjuri and Ngiyambaa "gajal" for water container with suffix "lugu" for "her" or "his".

[1] The area now known as Lake Cargelligo lies within the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people.

[4] The explorers, John Oxley and George Evans, followed the Lachlan River down to Lake Cargelligo in 1817.

Lake Cargelligo was known as Cudgelligo[5] (or sometimes Cudgellico) in the 1800s and was officially changed when the railway arrived in 1917.

[9] Since then the railway link has been used for cargo transport, especially for bulk grain which the surrounding farms cultivate.

[14] The plant was constructed using a grant from the Australian Government's Advanced Electricity Storage Technologies (AEST) Program.

More details on the project can be obtained from the Final Public Report – Commonwealth of Australia Department of Resource, Energy and Tourism, August 2011.

Earthworks were conducted, in the late 19th century and using horse and scoop, to build a levee bank and deepen sections of the lake, so that it would become more permanent.