Budj Bim Aquaculture Engineering Works (Lake Condah & Tyrendarra)
The Aboriginal Engineering works at Budj Bim are very extensive and were designed to trap, hold and grow eels which came up from the sea in huge numbers at specific times of the year. The structures are largely built from Basalt which is available in quantity due to lava flows from nearby volcanoes in geologically recent times. The ruins are of great age and were used, maintained and extended by the local Aborigines over thousands of years.
The structures at and near Lake Condah “comprise the remains of semi-circular stone-walled houses, cairns, free standing rock walls, stone-walled channels, and fish-traps and canals excavated into fractured and weathered basalt”.
As further mentioned by Coutts, “nor were they all small structures – some were more than 450 m long, greater than 0.5 m deep and around 0.5 m wide”; it is also mentioned that Dawson in 1881 described the construction of races and channels with clay embankments 0.6 – 1 m high and 250 – 300 m long.
It is these structures which led to an assessment of the whole infrastructure and led to this nomination for recognition as engineering heritage.
Engineering Heritage Recognition Program
| Marker Type | Engineering Heritage National Landmark (EHNL) |
| Award Date | 20 October 2011 |
| Heritage Significance | This system of eel aquaculture developed by Gunditjmara, including modified and engineered wetlands and eel traps, provided an economic basis for the development of a settled society. This system also resulted in high population densities represented by the remains of stone huts clustered into villages of between two and sixteen huts. This settled society demonstrates a transition from a forager society to a settled, stratified society ruled by chiefs with a form of hereditary succession that practised husbandry of fresh water fish. |
| Nomination Document | Available here. |
| Ceremony Booklet Ceremony Report |
Available here. |
| Plaque/Interpretation Panel Image | Available here. |
