Members of Bundaberg 4WD Club Inc recently set out to view the rare sight of Lake Monduran at 100 per cent capacity.
The day trip ventured from Bundaberg and into Rosedale.
The historic town, approximately 60 kms north west of Bundaberg was the perfect spot to take a break on what was classed as an easy drive for the club.
Watalgan state forest and the Littabella National Park are close by and are visited by many offroad enthusiasts, due to the myriad of tracks in the area, but they were to be explored at a later date.
In July 1853, John Little and his family made camp with their large herd of sheep overlanded from New South Wales and selected a site overlooking a large creek (now known as Baffle Creek).
John Little's wife, Catherine, suggested the name “Rosedale” for the property and a vertical slab house, stock yards were built.
On 29 August 1863 John Little was struck by a falling limb from a burning tree and died the next day. A headstone marks the grave sites on the property.
Rosedale Station remained in the Little family until approximately 1979.
The fence in front of the local Post office and hardware store has been painted with a mural depicting the history of the small town.
Venturing on through the cattle grazing area the group made their way to the Fred Haigh Dam, which was completed in 1974 as part of the first stage of the Bundaberg Water Supply Scheme.
It was originally called Monduran Dam, but the name was changed in 1979 to honour Irrigation and Water Supply Commissioner Fred Haigh who was a driving force behind the project.
Sadly, Haigh died in 1974 before the dam was finished. The storage formed by the dam is still known as Lake Monduran.
From the historical data by Sunwater the last time the Dam was at full capacity was late 2017.
It has been on a gradual decline until the recent rains that fell into the catchment area.
Only a month ago the water level was at 53%. It took two weeks for the level to reach spillway height, where it is slowly cascading over at about six centimetres deep.
The catchment area of the dam is relatively small and needs rains to fall in a very distinct area to run into the storage compound.
Our interest in seeing the dam at full capacity was twofold, not often were we able to witness the spillway running over, our club is also fortunate enough to have access to a private property on the banks of the Kolan, the river that Lake Monduran is fed by ,and used the opportunity to see how high the water goes at the site .
Water views from the campsite have been restored and the transformation from a month ago is stunning.
To find out more on the Bundaberg Four Wheel Drive Club and activities we have on, contact us via Email, bundy4wd@bigpond.com, on the net at www.bundaberg4wdclub.com or catch us on Facebook or Instagram.
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