Environmental aspects

Abstract

Lake Innes is a shallow water body, nowhere exceeding three metres in depth, located on the mid North Coast of New South Wales, 10 kilometres southwest of Port Macquarie and the mouth of the Hastings River (Tolagson 2002). It is approximately 6 kilometres long and 2-4 kilometres wide, set between north-south-trending ridges approximately 60 metres high. It is unusual among the coastal lakes and lagoons of New South Wales in that it is set in bedrock, rather than between or behind sand dunes. The lake's eastern edge is 4 kilometres from the coast, separated from the ocean by a bedrock ridge. Near the northern extremity of the lake there is a narrow gap through the encircling ridge through which the lake may once have been connected to the Hastings River floodplain.