Budj Bim heritage areas: Mapping Ancient Volcanic Terrain and Indigenous Engineering in Victoria

The history of the Budj Bim heritage areas begins well before European contact with the eruption of Budj Bim, the geological event the Gunditjmara describe as the revealing of a creator-being. Oral traditions associated with this eruption are recognised as among the oldest in the world, supported by archaeological evidence from nearby Tower Hill where human artefacts have been found beneath volcanic ash.

European exploration of the engineered wetlands began in July 1841, when Chief Protector of Aborigines George Augustus Robinson encountered an extensive area of channels and embankments near Mount William and described it as resembling "the work of civilized man", but produced entirely by Aboriginal people for catching eels. Despite this early documentation, the scale and antiquity of the system was largely ignored until the 1970s, when archaeologist Peter Coutts of the Victoria Archaeological Survey conducted detailed surveys at Lake Condah (Tae Rak) and revealed hundreds of metres of excavated channels and basalt block walls estimated to weigh many hundreds of tonnes.

Further research in the 1990s and 2000s by Harry Lourandos, Heather Builth, and palynologist Peter Kershaw reconstructed the complexity of the aquaculture system through 3D mapping, demonstrating that the channels were built across lava flows to form artificial ponds at different stages of eel growth. This body of research, later popularised by Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu (2014), reframed understanding of Aboriginal land use in the region.

European colonisation brought conflict and dispossession. From the late 1830s, the Eumeralla Wars saw the Gunditjmara displaced from much of their traditional country, and in 1867 the Lake Condah Mission was established a few kilometres from the lake on 2,000 acres along Darlot Creek. The mission operated under a series of protective and restrictive Acts, including the Half-Caste Act 1886, and closed at the end of 1918, though the church school continued until 1948. The mission church was demolished in the 1950s.

Recognition of the cultural significance of the site grew through the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The Aboriginal Land (Lake Condah and Framlingham Forest) Act 1987 returned the mission lands to the Kerrup-Jmara Elders Corporation on 1 January 1987. In March 2008, Lake Condah itself was returned to the Gunditjmara, and the area was subsequently vested to the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. The Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape was added to Australia's National Heritage List on 20 July 2004, and the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 6 July 2019, the first Australian site listed exclusively for its Aboriginal cultural values.

The Budj Bim heritage areas are defined by a continuous volcanic landscape that physically connects their three main components: the Budj Bim (northern) component, the Kurtonitj (central) component, and the Tyrendarra (southern) component. The unifying feature is the lava flow that radiates from the Budj Bim crater, which is the dormant volcano formerly known as Mount Eccles. This lava flow reshaped regional drainage patterns and created the conditions for the wetland systems the Gunditjmara later engineered.

At the heart of the landscape is Lake Condah, called Tae Rak in the Gunditjmara language, a shallow wetland basin roughly 4 kilometres long and 1 kilometre wide. It is bordered to the west by Darlot Creek (known as Kallara), and together the lake and creek form the central hydrological spine of the heritage areas. Around the lake, deep freshwater marshes and seasonally flooded shallow marshes create a mosaic of wetland habitats, while the surrounding country includes manna gum woodland that has been actively restored through revegetation programs.

The northern section is dominated by the Budj Bim crater itself and the associated features of Budj Bim National Park, including Lake Surprise, Tunnel Cave, the Crater Rim Walk, and the Lava Canal Walk, all of which reflect the underlying geology of the eruption. Stones State Faunal Reserve is integrated into this northern component, along with Aboriginal-owned lands including Muldoons and Allambie. The Tyrendarra component to the south covers approximately 248 hectares along Darlot Creek, with distinctive channel systems and basalt dam walls visible in the topography. Across all three areas, the rugged and uneven surface of the lava flow continues to define both the hydrology and the cultural engineering of the landscape.

The ecological character of the Budj Bim heritage areas is shaped by the intersection of volcanic geology and wetland hydrology, producing a mosaic of freshwater marshes, seasonally flooded shallow marshes, remnant and restored manna gum woodlands, and rocky lava flow country. These habitats support a wide range of native species adapted to wetland and woodland edge environments, while the ongoing management by the Budj Bim Rangers focuses on maintaining the ecological integrity of the original pre-1840s wetland system.

Vegetation management is a core component of the IPA programs. Tyrendarra IPA, in particular, has prioritised regrowth of manna gum woodland, replanting of thousands of trees and shrubs, and invasive species control. Restoration work at Kurtonitj and Lake Condah IPAs similarly emphasises reinstating native vegetation patterns and protecting cultural sites that depend on intact habitat condition. The 2006 bushfires destroyed large portions of newly planted vegetation around Tyrendarra, while the 2019-2020 bushfire season burnt more than 7,000 hectares around Lake Condah and within Budj Bim National Park, leaving a legacy of disturbance that continues to shape the ecological recovery process.

The wetlands themselves are the defining ecological feature, providing habitat for waterbirds, native fish, and the kooyang (short-finned eels) that drove the original Gunditjmara aquaculture system. Brolgas, great egrets, and powerful and barking owls are all recorded in the area, while seasonal flooding patterns continue to be important for the breeding cycles of these species. The interconnectedness of hydrology, native vegetation, and aquatic fauna makes the Budj Bim heritage areas a single integrated ecological system, not just a collection of separate reserves.

Wildlife at the Budj Bim heritage areas is intimately tied to the wetland, woodland, and lava flow habitats that the Gunditjmara have managed for thousands of years. The most iconic species is kooyang, the short-finned eel, whose life cycle and seasonal movements underpin both the original aquaculture system and the ecological function of the wetlands. The engineered channels, weirs, and dams in the landscape were designed around catching kooyang at different stages of growth, and contemporary land management continues to maintain conditions suitable for the species.

Birds form a major part of the wildlife profile. Brolgas are present around the wetlands, and the area supports significant populations of great egrets, powerful owls, and barking owls within the Lake Condah IPA. These species depend on the combination of open water, fringing woodland, and intact hydrological cycles that the IPAs were established to protect.

Terrestrial wildlife includes the tiger quoll, a notable marsupial predator recorded in the Lake Condah IPA. However, the wildlife of the heritage areas is also shaped by intense pressure from introduced species. Feral pigs and fallow deer have caused widespread damage to vegetation and soil, particularly after the 2019-2020 bushfires, and in May 2021 more than 1,100 feral pigs and fallow deer were culled by helicopter as part of an integrated pest control project coordinated by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Parks Victoria, and the Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation.

The Budj Bim heritage areas represent a globally significant model of Indigenous-led conservation, with the entire cultural landscape Aboriginal-owned and/or managed. Three Indigenous Protected Areas, Tyrendarra, Kurtonitj, and Lake Condah, form the backbone of the conservation framework, certified under IUCN Category VI for sustainable use of natural ecosystems in the case of Tyrendarra. Management is carried out by the Budj Bim Rangers through the Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation and the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, focused on protecting cultural heritage sites, managing revegetation, and eradicating weeds and feral animals.

At the federal level, the site is protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, which lists the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape as requiring periodic reporting on its values. At the state level, all Gunditjmara cultural heritage across the land is protected under Victoria's Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006. UNESCO listing under cultural criteria iii and v recognises both the exceptional antiquity of the Gunditjmara aquaculture system and its outstanding representation of long-term human interaction with the environment.

The conservation challenges facing the area include recovery from major bushfires in 2006 and 2019-2020, ongoing pressure from feral pigs and fallow deer, and the need to manage the archaeological and ecological integrity of fragile wetland systems. The 2019-2020 fires paradoxically revealed previously hidden sections of the ancient aquaculture system, including the Muldoon trap complex, demonstrating how bushfire, revegetation, and cultural heritage management are deeply interconnected in this landscape.

The Budj Bim heritage areas hold extraordinary cultural meaning for the Gunditjmara, the Aboriginal people of south-western Victoria. For them, the eruption of Budj Bim is not only a geological event but the moment a creator-being emerged from the landscape, anchoring their creation narratives and Dreaming trails. The dormant volcano, the lakes, the wetlands, and the engineered channels are all part of a single living cultural geography, where country, story, and practice are inseparable.

The Gunditjmara clans developed and maintained the aquaculture system as a collective enterprise. The Kerrup Gunditj (Kerrup-Jmara) clan, who lived around the shores of Lake Condah (Tae Rak), had specific custodial responsibility for the lake, and other clans contributed to the trapping, farming, and smoking of kooyang. The system supported permanent settlements, basalt-built houses, and a sophisticated smoking tradition using the hollows of manna gum trees, demonstrating that Aboriginal life in the region was highly sedentary and agriculturally informed long before European contact.

The European colonial period brought dispossession, conflict, and the establishment of the Lake Condah Mission in 1867, where displaced Gunditjmara were concentrated under successive Victorian protection policies. Mission buildings, including St Mary's Church, were constructed from local bluestone, and the mission was later recognised in the Bringing Them Home Report (1997) as an institution involved in the removal of Indigenous children. The return of Lake Condah in 2008 and the broader recognition of Gunditjmara ownership and management since 2019 mark a significant chapter in the cultural reclamation of this landscape, where Indigenous governance now drives conservation, heritage protection, and public engagement.

The Budj Bim heritage areas stand out for combining volcanic geology, ancient Indigenous engineering, and ongoing Aboriginal custodianship into a single integrated cultural landscape. Highlights include the dormant crater of Budj Bim itself, the network of stone channels and weirs built across the Tyrendarra lava flow, and the wetland system of Lake Condah (Tae Rak), which has been actively managed for at least several thousand years.

Other defining features include the Kurtonitj wetlands, with deep freshwater marshes and ancient kooyang traps inscribed as part of the World Heritage Listing in 2019, and the Lake Condah Mission lands, returned to Gunditjmara ownership in the late 20th century. The heritage areas were the first Australian site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List exclusively for Aboriginal cultural values, and they remain one of the most visible examples globally of long-term Indigenous land engineering continuing to operate under traditional governance.

The Budj Bim heritage areas sit in the temperate climate of south-western Victoria, where seasonal changes influence both the landscape atmosphere and the experience of visiting. Cooler months between late autumn and early spring tend to offer quieter, greener conditions, with the manna gum woodlands at Tyrendarra and Lake Condah most visibly lush, and water levels in the Darlot Creek and wetland areas at their highest following winter rains. Bird activity, including the presence of brolgas and wetland species, tends to be highest in this wetter part of the year.

Summer brings drier conditions and a higher risk of bushfire activity, as demonstrated by the 2006 and 2019-2020 fire seasons. Visitors should note that parts of the area can be temporarily closed following fire events, as happened after the 2019-2020 fires when walking tracks around Lake Surprise and Tunnel Cave in Budj Bim National Park were closed for safety and restoration work. Travelling outside the peak summer fire season generally offers more reliable access to the crater rim, the lava canal walk, the mission site, and the wetland boardwalks.