Lake Torrens Lake Torrens Lake Torrens is a normally ephemeral salt lake in central South Australia. After extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens Corridor to the Spencer Gulf. Lake Torrens lies between the Arcoona Plateau to the west and the Flinders Ranges to the east, about north of Port Augusta and about north of the Adelaide city centre. The lake is approximately above sea level, with a maximum depth of 1 m. It is located within the boundaries of Lake Torrens National Park. Lake Torrens stretches approximately in length and in average width. It is Australia's second largest
River Torrens after him. In 1867, prison labour from Adelaide Gaol was used to build a wooden dam near the site of the current weir. The dam was poorly constructed and almost immediately the Torrens washed it away. Construction of a permanent concrete weir was begun in November 1880 and completed, at a cost of £7,000, in 1881. The sluice gates were closed to begin filling the Torrens Lake on 1 July 1881. At the lake's official opening on 21 July 1881 an estimated 40,000, almost the entire population of Adelaide, attended. During the 1889 flood, the weir was overwhelmed, its gates