A re-creation of a traditional Lake Condah house.
Did you know? ... World’s oldest houses in Victoria
In what is now western Victoria, from about 30 000 to 18 000 years ago volcanoes erupted. Their remnants can still be seen, notably in what is now called Mount Eccles (traditionally called Budj Bim), which holds a crater lake. Lava flows across the land changed the patterns of drainage, and a shallow lake formed. That lake, now called Lake Condah, attracted the first known permanent human habitation in Australia, and possibly the world.
Radiocarbon dating shows that since at least 8000 years ago, until the mid 19th century, the Gunditjmara people farmed eels in the lake. Today, visitors to the lake can still see hundreds of kilometres of channels dug in the volcanic rock and walls of rocks built to hold eel traps.
European settlers and missionaries moved the Gunditjmara people off their traditional land, and the people are only now beginning to re-establish links with the place. Damming of the feeder rivers and draining of the lake for irrigation have left the lake dry most of the time, but the Gunditjmara people hope that, with the recent return of native title and through government funding, they can recreate an eel farming industry.
The Gunditjmara people lived in permanent, year-round villages beside the lake. They farmed eels, then caught them and smoked them. A few old trees still bear the signs of having been used for smoking, and even still smell of smoked eel! The Gunditjmara exported the eels across western Victoria through a variety of trade networks.
The houses were tiny – big enough only to sleep in. Their remains can still be seen as rings of piled rocks about 2 m across. Some rings, off limits to visitors, are thought to be thousands of years old.
This ancient history is something all Australians can be proud of.
If you have Google Earth installed, you can see the lake at 38°04′09″S, 141°50′18″E.
Further reading
Lake Condah Sustainable Development Project: http://www.lakecondah.com/
ABC Catalyst: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s993544.htm
Budj Bim Tours: http://www.budjbim.com/