eel ponds of budj bim

By Allison Stocks

Ancestral Connections & Geographic Extent Temporal Extent Biophysical Manipulations Target Species Ceremony & Stewardship Current Status

The eel ponds and channels of Budj Bim were built and managed by the Gunditjmara people (also known as the Dhauwurd Wurrung or Gunditjamara), an Indigenous people of present-day southwestern Victoria, Australia. The aquaculture system is estimated to have supported gatherings of up to 1000 people. 

In 2007, the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation were appointed as landholder in a native title consent determination for 133,000 ha of the Budj Bim landscape, including Lake Condah. This determination does not give the Gunditj exclusive control but ensures their right to be consulted on proposed changes to land management and to access and harvest resources from the surrounding wetland .

The modified eel channels and pools cover an area of approximately 10,000 ha in what is present-day southwestern Victoria, Australia, including Budj Bim National Park. The Budj Bim landscape was one of the strongholds for kooyang (short-finned eels) in this region, with lava flows forming the complex and productive wetlands, including Lake Condah, where they thrived. 

After the arrival of settlers in 1834, Lake Condah was drained multiple times to increase land available for grazing, reducing wetland habitat in the area and rendering the eel traps inoperable. In 2010, the construction of a new weir led to the re-filling of the lake, and subsequently 24 out of the 82 identified traditional fish traps have been reactivated.

The sites have been dated to approximately 6,600 cal yrs BP (McNiven et al., 2012), though other non-radiocarbon estimates indicate occupation in the area for over 8000 years (Builth et al. 2008; Rose et al. 2016).

Within a complex and highly productive system of wetlands formed by volcanic eruptions, the Gunditjmara used basaltic rock to manipulate pools and channels in order to hold and harvest short-finned eels (Anguilla australis). The stone-walled trap and channel systems were highly complex and could be very large, with some channels extending for more than 400 m (Rose et al. 2016). In summer, eels were speared or trapped in the drying stone-walled channels; in the autumn and winter, downstream migrating eels were trapped by diverting flow through woven baskets set within (Indigenous Knowledge Holder, cited in McNiven and Bell 2010).

The species targeted by these channels, pools and traps are short-finned eels (Anguilla australis).

There is an absence of published information on the stewardship practices, protocols and ceremonies associated with eel ponds.

Currently, there are efforts underway to revive eel trapping and harvesting within Lake Condah with a number of projects and legal developments facilitating their revival. 

As part of the Lake Condah Sustainable Development Project, started in 2002, the Gunditjmara have put forward a vision for restoring this practice to the land and rediscovering the ancestral practices and knowledge used in caring for the land:  

“Gunditjmara will restore the natural abundance of the lake. Water will again flow into the lake and remain there year-round, enabling native plants and animals to return and be nurtured by the life-giving waters of the lake. Lake Condah will again be central to Gunditjmara life and culture. Gunditjmara people will experience the landscape, engage in eel and fish harvesting using the stone trap systems, and apply traditional knowledge and practices in land and water management. As the water returns into this landscape, we will learn more about the ways in which previous generations cared for and used the land, and we will pass what we learn onto the next generation so that traditions and knowledge are never lost again.” - Excerpt from Yarkeen, the Gunditjmara collective vision for restoration of Lake Condah (Bell and Johnston 2008).  

With the construction of a new weir and re-filling of the lake, and the reactivation of over a quarter of the traditional fish traps, the Gunditjmara have reported increased feelings of connection to country, reconnection to cultural identity, healing, and reconciliation. Plans are ongoing for further economic development through tourism and a commercial eel fishery.

In 2007, the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation were appointed as landholder in a native title consent determination for 133,000 ha of the Budj Bim landscape, including Lake Condah. This determination does not give them exclusive control but provides them the right to be consulted on proposed changes to land management and to access and take resources from the land. The native title rights and interests co-exist with the 27 other parties’ rights and interests, including the State of Victoria, the Commonwealth Government, miners, farmers, fishers, etc. 

In 2004 the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape was added to the Australian National Heritage List. In July 2019, the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

More Information

Gunditjmara Aquaculture and the Frontier Wars Storymap

References

Bell, D., and C. Johnston. 2008. Budj Bim: caring for the spirit and the people. 16th ICOMOS General Assembly and International Scientific Symposium, Quebec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval 213–224.

Builth, H., A. P. Kershaw, C. White, A. Roach, L. Hartney, M. McKenzie, T. Lewis, and G. Jacobsen. 2008. Environmental and cultural change on the Mt Eccles lava-flow landscapes of southwest Victoria, Australia. The Holocene 18:413–424.

Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation. 2008. Lake Condah restoration project conservation management plan. Report prepared by Context Pty Ltd for Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation, Heywood.

McNiven, I., and D. Bell. 2010. Fishers and farmers: historicising the Gunditjmara freshwater fishery, Western Victoria. The La Trobe Journal 85:83–105.

McNiven, I. J., J. Crouch, T. Richards, N. Dolby, and G. Jacobsen. 2012. Dating Aboriginal stone-walled fish traps at Lake Condah, Southeast Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:268–286.

Rose, D., D. Bell, and D. A. Crook. 2016. Restoring habitat and cultural practice in Australia’s oldest and largest traditional aquaculture system. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 26:589–600.

Roughley, T. C. 1951. Fish and fisheries of Australia. Page 322. Lake Condah restoration project conservation management plan, Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation, Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

Other Helpful Resources:

Aunditjmirring. (n.d.). Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owner Aboriginal Corporation.

McNiven, I. 2008. Lake Condah restoration weir installation: cultural heritage management plan. Report prepared for Dept.

National Native Title Tribunal. 2007, March 20. The Gunditjmara People’s native title determinations.

ATNS. 2007, October 21. Gunditj mirring and the state of Victoria Indigenouns land use agreement (Ilua).