Sunderland in Australia story query

[JägerMarty]

I heard a story from someone recently whose father was in RAAF intelligence during WW2, who was also from the Victorian city of Ballarat.
He recalled a story his father told him about a Sunderland flying boat visiting Ballarat and landing on the small lake in town, Lake Wendouree.
Anyone here heard of this? Taking a Sunderland off that small lake would have been quite spectacular!

[Mark_Pilkington]

I heard a story from someone recently whose father was in RAAF intelligence during WW2, who was also from the Victorian city of Ballarat.
He recalled a story his father told him about a Sunderland flying boat visiting Ballarat and landing on the small lake in town, Lake Wendouree.
Anyone here heard of this? Taking a Sunderland off that small lake would have been quite spectacular!

I would find it very hard to believe that a Sunderland could land on Lake Wendouree, its hardly a lake, more like a large duck pond, it is very shallow and in fact has been dry until recently due to the drought over the last 10 years.

The web suggests a depth of 2M (6') but that would be in the middle of winter when full, I'm not sure what depth a Sunderland sits at (draught) when still, I know once they are on their planing hull little depth is required, but I would wonder if 6' would be sufficient for taxi-ing let alone getting up onto the step?

I know a Lancaster visited the Ballarat RAAF Base during WW2, and perhaps a Seagull V could land on Wendouree but if you were bringing a Sunderland to Ballarat you would surely use the nearby Lake Burrumbeat (although it has also been drained dry by irrigation during the drought too), rather than risking a very embarrassing ripped hull and aircraft writeoff.

There is no photos or reference to such an event on either Lake at the Ballarat Aviation Museum.

http://www.ballarat.com/lake.htm

HISTORY OF LAKE WENDOUREE

The plaque on the monument opposite Pleasant Street school states, ‘Near this spot was the camp of the first resident of Ballarat, William Yuille’. In the autumn of 1838 the young Scotsman drove his flock of sheep to the shores of the swamp which was first known as Black Swamp because it was dark with thickly growing reeds. To the miners it was known as Yuille’s Swamp.

A squatter’s diary of 1850 records that there were many Koories camped around the swamp and by a little stream that ran down from it. Hundreds of kangaroos and emus fed on the grassy plateau.

The name Wendouree comes from the aboriginal word ‘wendaaree’ which means ‘go away’. A story is told that when William Yuille asked an aboriginal woman the name of the swamp, that was her reply.When Ballarat was first surveyed in 1851 by WS Urquhart the swamp was recorded as Wendouree.

In ancient times Lake Wendouree was originally a stream which flowed to the west but a lava flow caused it to be dammed on three sides and it now drains to the east, eventually into the Yarrowee River
FAST FACTS
Location: 120 km west of Melbourne
Surface Area: 238 hectares
Circumference: 6 km
Maximum depth: 2 metres
Capacity: 3860 megalitres
Foreshore area: 16 hectares
Height above sea level: 450 m

regards

Mark Pilkington

[JägerMarty]

Yeah I was quite suspicious when I heard the tale