What is Gippsland Lakes?
[[Image:Lake King,from Shaving Point, Metung, Vic.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Lake King from Shaving Point in [[Metung, Victoria|Metung]]]] The '''Gippsland Lakes''' are a network of [[lake]]s, [[marsh]]es and [[lagoon]]s in east [[Gippsland]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], [[Australia]]. They cover an area of about {{convert|354|km2}}. The largest of the lakes are '''Lake Wellington''', '''Lake King''' and '''Lake Victoria'''. Water enters the lakes from the [[Avon River (Eastern Victoria)|Avon]], [[Thomson River, Victoria|Thomson]], [[Latrobe River|Latrobe]], [[Mitchell River, Victoria|Mitchell]], [[Nicholson River (Victoria)|Nicholson]] and [[Tambo River (Victoria)|Tambo]] rivers. ==History== The Gippsland Lakes were formed by two main actions. The first was by silt from the rivers creating [[river delta|river deltas]]. The Mitchell River created silt jetties which run into Lake King for several kilometres. The second action was the sea in [[Bass Strait]] which created the [[Ninety Mile Beach]] which blocked the rivers from reaching the sea. Once the rivers were blocked the water level of the lakes would gradually rise. The water would finally break through the [[Ninety Mile Beach, Victoria|barrier beach]] and the level would drop to sea-level. Eventually the [[beach]] would close-off the lakes and the cycle would begin again. Sometimes it would take many years before a new channel to the sea was formed and it was not always in the same place as the last one. In 1889 a wall was built to fix the position of a natural channel between the lakes and the ocean at [[Lakes Entrance]]. This stabilised the water level, made a harbour for fishing boats and opened the lakes to shipping. This entrance needs to be dredged regularly, or the same process that created the Gippsland Lakes would maker the entrance too shallow for ships to pass through. Due to the flooding, in 2011, Gippsland Lakes were experiencing [[bioluminescence]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philhart.com/content/bioluminescence-gippsland-lakes|title=Bi