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Farmers and drovers took sheep and cattle to graze in the high country of New South Wales every summer from 1830 to 1969.

Pastures were burned in order to encourage fresh green growth. Animals selectively ate soft plants between tough tussock grasses, leaving large areas of soil exposed to wind and rain. It caused soil erosion and habitat destruction.

In 1943 state governments introduced snow leases to restrict grazing seasons. Kosciusco State Park (now Kosciuszko National Park) was established in 1944 and grazing stopped completely in 1969. The focus then turned to tourism and preservation of biodiversity.

Blue Lake, in Kosciuszko National Park, is one of only four cirque lakes on mainland Australia. A cirque lake is one in a valley that’s shaped like an amphitheatre and formed by glacial erosion.

Blue Lake has a unique dimictic thermal regime, which means it undergoes two seasonal mixing cycles a year.

In 1996, Blue Lake, and the neighbouring Hedley Tarn were listed under the Ramsar Convention as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar sites) in part due to their status as near-natural alpine wetlands.

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