About the Walking Trails

A beautiful spot for picnicking with seating and barbeque facilities, the Yeldulknie Weir has a number of trails and loops for you to enjoy. With toilets and water facilities available, visitors who use the facilities, camp or stay in their campervans, caravans or RV’s are encouraged to leave a donation in the donation box. This goes towards the Cleve Lions Club, who volunteer their time to maintain the area.

The walking trails around the Yeldulknie Weir & Reservoir are perfect for spotting birds and other wildlife or to explore your surroundings. There are two main walks to enjoy:

 Reservoir Loop, 3.1km

The numbers on the markers indicate the distance you have walked. Once you reach the 1.34km marker, ensure you take the yellow trail to return to the picnic ground. For a shorter return, take the silver marker at the 347 metre mark.

The first 380 metres to the old garden is a formed well maintained trail. The remainder of the trail is well marked, following natural terrain. For a longer walk (1.3km), please follow the blue arrows around the reservoir.

 Lower Weir Walk, 1.4km

This walk leaves from the southern end of the picnic ground and follows the sprayed service road along the western bank of the creek to the lower weir. From here it crosses the weir and heads back to the picnic ground on the eastern side of the creek.

Access to the Yeldulknie Weir & Reservoir

To access by car, the turn off to the Reservoir is 4km east from Cleve, on the Birdseye Highway (B91).

You can also walk or ride to the Reservoir on the 5km Yeldulknie Weir Trail, which is a shared-use trail suitable for walkers, cyclists, runners, and is accessible to people with mobility issues, including the use of wheelchairs and gophers.

History of Yeldulknie Weir & Reservoir

The Yeldulknie Scheme was the first large water conservation and distribution network on the Eyre Peninsula and was constructed to supply Arno Bay and Cowell farming areas with reticulated water. The scheme comprised three small gravity reservoirs – Yeldulknie, Ullabidinie and Ulbana, formed by weirs constructed on three intermittently flowing streams of the same names.

The Yeldulknie Weir was completed in 1912 and supplied water to Arno Bay and the surrounding farming area. Cleve did not receive this reticulated supply as the system relied on gravity. In 1928 the system was connected to the Tod Reservoir Trunk Main as the scheme was incapable of meeting growing demand. In November 1954, the district was linked with the Uley Wanilla water scheme which provided an assured water supply to the area. Although the Reservoir remains, the Engineering and Water Supply Department relinquished its interest in the scheme when the water supply proved to be unreliable.

The restored wheelhouse is state heritage listed, and is open for public viewing of the blueprints.