Copperlode Dam or Lake Morris is a fresh water reservoir dam servicing the city of Cairns, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The dam is located in the range immediately west of the city.

History

Originally Cairns' water needs were met with water drawn from Freshwater Creek and also some from Behana Creek. It was evident to even the earliest setters that a larger source of water would need to be secured as Cairns grew.

With this in mind, one of the city's engineers, Mr F Morris, explored the Lamb Range to the west of the city to find a place to build a dam. In 1935 he found a site at Copperlode falls, near the headwaters of Freshwater Creek, that he thought would be suitable for the dam. Many years later, after a series of surveys confirmed the site's suitability, the State Government

Government of Queensland

The Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...

 approved the site for construction of an earth and rock fill dam.

The State Government originally set aside A$3 million for the dam, but by the time the dam was completed on March 25, 1976, the total cost had risen to approximately $6.5 million. The reservoir holds 45,000 Megalitres of water (In comparison to Lake Tinaroo's

Lake Tinaroo

Lake Tinaroo, also known as Tinaroo Dam, is a man-made reservoir on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. It was constructed between 1953 and 1958 on the Barron River close to Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham .- History :...

407 000 Megalitres). The reservoir is named "Lake Morris" after the city engineer that discovered its site, but the dam itself is named after the waterfalls it replaced - Copperlode Falls.

External links

• Cairns Water - History of Copperlode Dam