Lake Sylvester System

Corella, de Burgh and Sylvester are ephemeral freshwater lakes which are seasonally inundated, sometimes retaining water for over a year after substantial flooding.

During exceptional flood events all water bodies in the system can merge to form a single lake with an area of up to 2000 km2.

The lake system lies on deep-cracking grey clay soils that support open shrublands and savanna woodlands with scattered coolibahs, tussock grasslands and mats of aquatic plants.

The land forms part of the Brunette Downs pastoral lease operated by the Australian Agricultural Company.

[1] Some 2262 km2 of the lake system and its surroundings have been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it has significant breeding colonies of the letter-winged kites and over 1% of the world populations of plumed whistling-ducks, grey teals, hardheads, little black cormorants, Australian pelicans, straw-necked ibises, Eurasian coots, Oriental plovers, Australian terns and flock bronzewings.