Robg,
I understand that the early 1950s were some of the wettest years ever on the Southern Tablelands,NSW at least. Do not know if a full Lake Eyre had anything to do with that.

Lake Eyre was full a short time back, maybe just a few years ago. I recall wanting to fly over it by light aircraft, from Adelaide, that were being offered and for some reason I did not go. It does not fill very often and I should have taken the opportunity then.

Hi Banjo,

yes 1950 was a very wet year in many parts of NSW. In fact it still stands as the wettest on record for many locations. I don't know if it had anything to do with Lake Eyre either, that's why an analysis would have to be done. However I think it is possible that a full Lake Eyre would increase rain in eastern Australia. This thing about filling Lake Eyre came up on another forum that I am a member of. Someone suggested excavating a channel from the Gulf of Adelaide through to the lake – perhaps more feasible than a pipeline? On the other hand, if the earth keeps warming at the rate it has been for the past 10 years, the resulting sea level rise might make the job even easier.

I was certain there was an article on OLO maybe a year or two ago with a discussion debating the merits of the Lake Eyre canal proposal, but I can't find it now. If anyone knows where it is, could they post a link?

From memory the upshot was the engineers didn't think it was feasible, but I can't remember why. My guess is the gradient over the several hundred km from Spencer Gulf to the lake wouldn't be steep enough for water to flow in fast enough to replace evaporation, but I'm sure someone with a bit better understanding of hydrology than mine could elaborate.

I'm not sure of the exact surface area of the lake, but 1.14 million km2 seems out by a factor of about 100 looking at the maps in my atlas. Seems more like 11,000 km2. I think that first measure refers to the total area of the whole Lake Eyre basin.

In era's long gone the continent was split by sea which ran thru lake E to the north-east to the gulf of carpenteria hence the salty lake E.As far as canals is concerned,just took a look at Panama-canal,Suez-canal not to forget my country of birth Holland which is full of canals right down to Belgium. It takes the will from the people NOT the government to achieve those successes of history.
Has anybody heard about ORGONE energy and the application with weathercontrol by the famous Reich?

A variation to the concept of a canal between Spencer's Gulf and Lake Eyre, maybe to build a pipeline that is concentric with a centre open conduit to carry the seawater and an outer conduit to carry the resultant de-salinated water evaporated as a result of the heat provided by direct solar radiation. This will lessen the environmental impact of seawater directly into Lake Eyre. If sinks were provided along the length of the pipeline then the maybe cost could be offset by the sales of the mineral salts that would drop out of suspension when salt concentrations increased. The availability of fresh water would also lessen the impact of human activity on artesian supplies. Geothermal powerplants could provide the electricity for any pumps required. With Australia being geologically stable, surely using the internal heat of the earth instead on nuclear energy is more feasible.