Torrential rain spurs Merino mercy dash as Lake George rose

There's six people who lease land on Lake George, a good grazing area with top native pastures - but not when it's wet and filling with water.

The leaseholders have had some long grazing periods over the last few decades as the Lake, just north of Canberra, doesn't seem to fill as often, and obviously with the drought rarely even got wet.

But steady rain so far this year has sparked the native grasses on the flat bed of the Lake and all seemed well until the weekend's torrential rain event moved in from the coast dumping up to 160mm at nearby Collector.

The Bingleys have run Merinos on the lake for nearly 40 years and as they confronted the drama of saving their flock on Sunday morning, their good neighbours including the Kershaws and others moved in to help with their quad bike muster.

It wasn't an easy morning on Sunday as the lake was quickly filling and it has a notorious history - 14 people have drowned there since 1949. It is also full of dangerous sinkholes up to 6m wide and 7m deep every little while, not only a danger to people, but obviously to stock.

James Bingley said he was very grateful that his neighbours had stepped in to help retrieve the sheep, some of which had wandered over to the far side of the Lake. Other people's sheep were also moved to the safety of the side of the lake. The Crown Land blocks are leased by people who live elsewhere and they have to monitor the stock continually.

They could deal with 15-20mm, but when it gets to 100mm about the area then they have big problems.

There was torrential rain on Saturday night and they were all concerned. "The sheep were right out and you have to play the game with the wind out there." (The lake level can sometimes be higher on one side than the other with water due to the wind).

"There was a couple of hundred in the middle and the rest were way out," James Bingley said. "The neighbours had some too. It is very very unpredictable out there and it's easy to lose your sense of direction. There's also little holes every 20 or 30m, and there's big sinkholes some up to 7m deep scattered all over the lake. It was very easy for the sheep to go down in them especially in those conditions."

"We had four bikes going out so we were very lucky. Obviously the further out you go the deeeper it gets. It's amazing how good your neighbours are."

Mr Bingley said the bed of the lake had moved with the drought and that mounds had appeared on the side where it's normally shallow, making it deeper there.

It was worth the worry using the lake bed for grazing as the native grasses were full of good protein, the wool was clean, and it often went 18 microns at shearing. "It's good sheep country."

The Aboriginal name for Lake George is Werriwa, which means 'bad water'. Sometime it's bad and then sometimes it's good, the graziers have learnt.

By Monday morning a fair bit of the water on the western side had receded and the grass had reappeared, and the sheep were getting back to what they do best.