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4600BCFrom at least 6,600 years ago · Budj Bim, western Victoria

Budj Bim eel traps of the Gunditjmara

Lake Surprise in the crater of Budj Bim, the volcano whose lava flow holds the Gunditjmara eel traps
Photo: Dhx1. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Gunditjmara people cut channels, weirs and holding ponds into the lava flows from Budj Bim, a volcano in western Victoria, to trap and farm short-finned eels. One trap at Lake Condah has been dated to about 6,600 years ago, making the system one of the oldest aquaculture works known, and it supported settled villages with stone-walled houses. Gunditjmara defended this Country in the Eumeralla Wars of the 1840s.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Tae Rak (Lake Condah)Restored lake with stone eel channels, visited with Gunditjmara guides.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected AreaWalking track past eel traps and stone house sites on Darlot Creek.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Budj Bim National Park (Mount Eccles)Volcanic crater lake whose lava flow made the whole landscape.Map ↗

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More from the Prehistory

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.