Donald Campbell Obelisk

For a few extraordinary weeks in 1964, Barmera was the centre of the speed world. Donald Campbell — holder of both land and water speed records, and the most famous daredevil of his era — brought the jet hydroplane Bluebird K7 to Lake Bonney to attempt the world water speed record on the Riverland's inland sea.

The lake gave him an Australian record — on 23 November 1964 Campbell hit around 347.5 km/h, roughly 216 miles per hour — but never quite the world mark. Lake Bonney was simply too small, and the wash thrown up at speed made full-power runs lethal. Campbell shifted his campaign to Lake Dumbleyung in Western Australia and broke the record there on the last day of 1964, at 444.7 km/h, completing his unique land-and-water double for the year.

Barmera never forgot its part in the story. The obelisk on the foreshore, near the former Bluebird café where K7 was housed, marks the attempt — a strange and wonderful footnote on a lake now given over to sailing dinghies, swimmers and sunsets. It belongs on any Lake Bonney wander.