Lake Moondarra, lake in Australia

Lake Moondarra is a reservoir formed by the Leichhardt River Dam, a 28-metre-high, 259-metre-long concrete-faced rock-filled embankment across the Leichhardt River, 16 kilometres upstream from Mount Isa. At full capacity it holds 107,000 megalitres and covers 23.75 square kilometres. The lake has picnic areas, pontoons, a ski jump and water-sports facilities, plus Transport Bay, a man-made beach created with sand delivered by Mount Isa Mines trucks.

Construction of the Leichhardt River Dam began in 1956 and was completed on 6 November 1958 at a cost of A£1.7 million, the largest privately financed water scheme in Australia at the time. Utah Construction started the work and Thiess Brothers finished it. The reservoir was gazetted as Lake Moondarra on 20 October 1962, after a naming competition won by local Danny Driscoll.

The name Moondarra comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "plenty of rain" and "thunder"; it was chosen in 1961 by Mount Isa resident Danny Driscoll in a naming competition. The Lake Moondarra Fishing Classic has been held since 1999, drawing anglers to a dam stocked with barramundi and sooty grunter.

The lake lies 13 to 20 km north of Mount Isa along the Leichhardt River, reached by road from the city. Picnic areas, pontoons, a ski jump and water-sport facilities line the shore, and Transport Bay is a man-made beach where MIM trucks once dumped sand. Birdwatchers, sailors and anglers use the water; the dam is stocked with about 10,000 fingerlings a year.

Before the dam was built, the area was one of Australia's largest stone axe quarries; axes from here were traded across distances of up to 1,000 kilometres. In 1984 a weevil was released to control the weed Salvinia molesta, destroying tens of thousands of tonnes of it.