Lake Ballard is a salt lake in the northern Goldfields area of WA. It is known for its interesting “Inside Australia” outdoor art gallery. The display pictures 51 alloy cast sculptures derived from laser scans of inhabitants of a nearby town Menzies.
Photographers’ paradise
Lake Ballard with its world’s largest outdoor art gallery attracts many visitors every year. The positioning of the sculptures on a dry salt lake makes it a unique sight. It is also a favourite for many photographers. We visited Lake Ballard twice. First time, in 2020 we visited Lake Ballard at sunset. (We camped at Morapoi station at that time.) Second time (in July 2025) I was hoping to take pictures of the sculptures at sunrise and at night. For that reason, I chose to camp there for the night. Unfortunately, we arrived late and missed the sunset. Astrophotography didn’t happen either due to a bright full moon.
My only hope was for the sunrise. I made sure I got up early. The morning did not disappoint. The colours of the sky together with some soft puffy clouds were the perfect backdrop. The way the sculptures are positioned makes them an ideal place for photography. You can walk around the lake and find the perfect angle. I was quite happy with the results I’ve got.
Each sculpture at Lake Ballard is unique
Created by a British artist Anthony Gormley, the sculptures reveal each inhabitant’s life passage. While the sculptures are of the height of a person, the cross sections are reduced by two thirds. This makes them look unrealistically thin.
We didn’t have time to look at all 51 sculptures but those that we saw, were predominantly of women. Does it mean that the women outnumbered men in those days? Or their life was more interesting to an observer? I didn’t get an answer to that question. But judging from excessive curves of their spines, the life of those people must have been full of hardship. Some of them reveal severe cases of lordosis and kyphosis. They, obviously, didn’t know anything about yoga, which helps to reduce muscular tension and flatten those curves! 🙂
Although the sculptures do look similar to an untrained eye, each one is unique.
Camping at Lake Ballard
There is a nice picnic (day use) area, as well as a free camping area at Lake Ballard. Facilities include toilet, rubbish bins, fire pits and picnic tables.
How to get there
Lake Ballard is 51km from Menzies via sealed road. It is 200km north of Kalgoorlie. Lake Ballard is one of the sites along Golden Quest Discovery Trail. So you can also access it from Coolgardie in the south.
(Road from Coolgardie to Lake Ballard with a detour to Rowles Lagoon – July 2025).
Or you can get to Lake Ballard from Leonora in the north. We drove on Mount Ida unsealed road from Leonora to Lake Ballard in July 2020. We made a brief stop to look at Copperfield. It is an abandoned town which in 1898 housed 500 people and had state battery. Now only the old machinery is the reminder of what existed before.
(Copperfield)
(The view from the Snake Hill Lookout further down the road)
Solicitude of Lake Ballard
Lake Ballard is mostly dry and crispy but can be wet especially closer to the carpark area. There are a lot of salt lakes that you can see in the outback. The Wongutha people are Natives of the Goldfields in WA. They believe the salt lakes were created by the tears of the silver-grey crows. Long ago, the crows cried because they felt not accepted by other birds and animals of the bush.
You can easily spend hours, walking around the lake and looking at different shapes of the statues. Sunset and sunrise are particularly magical. As complete darkness sets, the lake becomes a divinely serene place. You can just stand in the middle of it and enjoy true solitude.
