Lake Torrens Lake Torrens. The full extent of Lake Torrens has been protected as a national park under the "National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972" since 1991. Lake Torrens is part of an area known as the "Inland Saline Lakes" which has been listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia since at least 1995. Lake Torrens has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area known as the "Lake Torrens Important Bird Area" (IBA) because it supported up to 100,000 breeding banded stilts during the major filling event of 1989. It may occasionally support over 1% of the
River Torrens jammed, and in trying to free them the weir's designer John Langdon was crippled. The weir was rebuilt from 1928 to 1929 with its footbridge relocated and the centre section replaced. The gates can now be fully raised and the river allowed to flow unimpeded. The "Popeye" boats are privately owned recreational ferries that operate on the lake between Elder Park and the Adelaide Zoo. The first boat was launched on the Torrens Lake by Gordon Watts in 1935. It was a boat, built on the banks of the Torrens to hold up to 20 passengers and named "Popeye 1".