We stumbled on the Thomson Dam on our way home from a weekend getaway in Walhalla. Our Navman diverted us to what we believe would’ve been a longer way home. We drove through the scenic Baw Baw State Forest where trees towered the windy roads. Once we reached the awe inspiring Thomson Dam we returned the same way we arrived and headed home via Moe.
As we drove along the beautiful scenic roads through the Baw Baw State Forest all of a sudden the road opened up, the trees disappeared and the road took us out on the dam wall to a lookout point. It was here we got the “wow” factor.
The Thomson Dam was certainly worth the detour. It was awesome to see Melbourne’s largest dam which in July 1984 was included as part of Melbourne’s water storage. It doubled Melbourne’s water storage capacity. The dam holds nearly 4 times Melbourne’s next largest dam!!
Whilst it is said the Thomson Dam has only been full three times!! It was hoped that the Thomson Dam would relieve the pressure the drought was putting on Melbourne’s water supplies through the Millenium drought period 1997 to 2009. However in 2009, even the Thomson Dam struggled and was only 16% of its full capacity.
With this in mind when you look out at the Thomson Dam it is incredible to think Melbourne has 10 dams and we still through drought periods struggle. It made us realise how we should be educating Melbourne’s population to treat water as a precious resource. In 2017 we traveled Asia for a year and visited places like Rajasthan in North India. Here the locals still walk for miles with a plastic jug balanced on their heads to fetch water from a well. There is no such thing as turning on a tap, not in their kitchen, nor anywhere in their home or neighborhood. So many of us take water for granted.
We go to our kitchen, bathrooms, gardens and we always have water pouring out, majority of us do not realise how lucky we are and most definitely take water for granted. It is only when you visit regional Victoria, speak to farmers or explore other parts of the world where water is respected as a precious resource that one starts to understand.
Unfortunately when we arrived here my phone completely died on me, so we were unable to take a lot of photos. Fortunately we were able to capture a few.
Our Adventure to Walhalla
We spent 3 days in the beautiful area of Walhalla. Our home for 3 days was at Coopers Creek Campground which is a free camping area situated within minutes walk to the Thomson River. If you are interested in our adventures in Walhalla please follow the below links:
- 3 Day Itinerary in Walhalla
- Walhalla Goldfields Railway
- Walhalla Old Gold Mining Town
- Bruntons Bridge
- Coopers Creek Campground
Thomson Dam Location
- Thomson Dam Access Road, Thomson Victoria 3825
- Approximately 188km, 2hr 15mins east of Melbourne CBD
- Approximately 32km, 35min from Walhalla
Feedback/Comment
Have you visited the Thomson Dam? If so what did you think of the Thomson Dam and what road trip were you on when you discovered the dam?
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