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Arthurs Lake Dam

power station located in Central Highlands of Tasmania, Australia

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ19600078 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Arthurs Lake Dam is a rock-filled embankment dam across the Lake River, located between the small settlements of Wilburville and Morass Bay, in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. Completed in 1965, the resultant reservoir, Arthurs Lake, was established for the purpose of generating hydro-electric power via the Tods Corner Power Station, the only pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations located in Tasmania. The dam and power station are part of the Great Lake and South Esk catchment.

The dam, reservoir and power station are owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.

Dam and reservoir overview

Dam

The rock-filled dam wall is 17 metres (56 ft) high and 482 metres (1,581 ft) long. When full, Lake Burbury has capacity of 511,390 megalitres (414,590 acre⋅ft) and covers 6,459 hectares (15,960 acres), drawn from a catchment area of 259 square kilometres (100 sq mi). The single controlled and uncontrolled spillway is capable of discharging 43 cubic metres per second (1,500 cu ft/s).

Reservoir

Arthurs Lake is located in the Central Highlands, north of Lyell Highway, east of Great Lake. Europeans discovered the lake in 1825. John Helder Wedge, an explorer and surveyor in Colonial Van Dieman's Land, was sent to find the source of the Lake River, which he found at Arthurs Lake.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Arthurs Lake Dam” as power station located in Central Highlands of Tasmania, Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Arthurs, Lake and power.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1965, 1825—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Arthurs, Lake and power providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Arthurs Lake Dam”, the useful work is to connect “power station located in Central Highlands of Tasmania, Australia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19600078. Authority coordinates are -41.990, 146.910. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1965 and 1825.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Arthurs Lake Dam”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Arthurs Lake Dam primary sources, Arthurs Lake Dam archive and Arthurs research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Arthurs Lake Dam”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Arthurs Lake Dam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.