Hawea Lake, lake in west-central South Island, New Zealand. The lake lies at the heart of a resort area 182 miles (293 km) northwest of Dunedin by road. It occupies 54 square miles (141 square km) of a valley dammed by a terminal moraine (glacial debris). The lake, 1,142 feet (348 m) above sea level, is 19 miles (31 km) long, 5 miles (8 km) wide, and 1,286 feet (392 m) deep. It drains an area of 536 square miles (1,388 square km). Its main affluent, the Hunter River, flows into the lake from east of the Southern Alps. The lake empties into the Hawea River, a tributary of the Clutha. A dam at the lake’s outlet supplies electricity in connection with the Roxburgh hydroelectric project on the Clutha. Hawea, named for a local Maori tribe, was first seen by a European, Nathanial Chalmers, in 1853.