Lochiel Ness Monster arises from the pink Lake Bumbunga in South Australia's mid north during the 1980s

The Lochiel Ness Monster has been woven into the legend of a bullock team that disappeared in Lake Bumbunga's treacherous sands in the 1880s.

The Lochiel Ness Monster became another mystery figure on the South Australian rural landscape. In the mid 1980s,  the Lochiel Ness Monster or Loch Eel appeared – embedded in the salt Lake Bumbunga, also one of the state’s pink lakes, and visible to passing cars on the Augusta Highway at the mid north town of Lochiel, about 125km north of Adelaide.

When the town was established in 1869, the South Australian governor James Fergusson gave it the Scottish name of Lochiel after Lochiel Forest near Inverness in Scotland and also the chief of the Cameron clan.

The origin overnight of the eel-like creature, modelled on the Loch Ness monster and made of rubber tyres and pipes, has been kept secret but it has been woven into the legend of a bullock team that disappeared in the lake's treacherous sands in the 1880s.

Lake Bumbunga (derived from the Aboriginal world "Parnpangka", meaning "rain water lake") has been used by Cheetham Salt company for salt harvesting for its works to the northerneast of the town and its major employer. Lake Bumbunga is made up of three salt pans that has been harvested for decades years for use in swimming pools, water softener and fish and chips.

The lake becomes a bright pink colour from minute algae and turns white when the algae dies.

In 2017, the iconic Lochiel Ness Monster suffered the indignity of being decapitated by vandals who disappeared with its head.