Lake Harry Ruins Campsite – Birdsville Track
Lake Harry Ruins is a great free campsite on the Birdsville Track at the southern end of lake Harry. There is a lot of room, you could fit as many vans you needed here. The area is flat. If it’s windy then the best bet is to camp up close to the ruins and use it as a windbreak.
We’ve called in and had a look on a trip a few years ago. we didn’t stay as we other plans for the day but we’ve marked it in the memory banks as a “100% we’d camp there” site. There aren’t any amenities at Lake Harry Ruins Campsite but there is history in abundance. The ruins themselves are pretty small however if you go for a walk you’ll find all kinds of things to keep you interested.
Lake Harry Ruins Campsite Location And Info At A Glance
Cost: Free
Type: Free Camping
Location: Birdsville Track, Muloorina SA 5733, South Australia
GPS: -29.4342650, 138.2467820
Pet Friendly: Yes
Distance From Birdsville: 488km
Distance From Marree: 31km
Lake Harry Ruins Campsite Birdsville Track
So What Was Lake Harry Ruins And what Happened To It?
The site was originally used as a date palm plantation starting around 1894. There was plenty of bore water available and plenty of room for planting. Sunshine was also to be had in absolute abundance. What could go wrong? The answer to what could go wrong is anything and everything! The nearest bees to create pollination were hundreds of kilometres away so they had do do it all by hand. And the market for the dates was even further away and there was no such thing as refrigerated transport. By the time the product made it to market it was cactus! Then there was a drought around 1900. Add to this that cockatoos love eating dates. It ended up being abandoned around the time that WW1 began as there wasn’t much manpower around to keep it all going.
Summary
Lake Harry Ruins Campsite on the southern end of the Birdsville Track is a great place to camp for the night when starting the track or just before finishing it. There’s plenty of history there to keep you interested. It’s a good campsite.