Budj Bim Cultural Landscape

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south-west Victoria, Australia, is a volcanic and wetland system transformed by the Gunditjmara people through extensive, multilayered networks of stone and earth aquaculture works. The landscape includes channels, weirs, dams and eel traps integrated with habitation sites.

Key features are engineered stone channels and weirs that control and direct water from the lava-flow terrain into ponded areas for trapping short-finned eels, together with hearths and habitation evidence showing long-term occupation. The scale and durability of the engineering reflect planned production and storage systems rather than incidental use of waterways.

The engineered aquaculture and habitation systems were developed by the Gunditjmara over many generations and have been used for food production, social exchange and landscape management. The site demonstrates continuity of Indigenous knowledge and land management practices.

Budj Bim sits in south-western Victoria, with the volcanic cone and lava flows around the feature known as Mount Eccles (Budj Bim) and wetlands such as Lake Condah forming principal components. The landscape is near coastal plains in the state’s south-west and is accessed from regional towns in the area.

• Ancient aquaculture systems: represents one of the oldest known engineered aquaculture systems in the world, with evidence of deliberate stone and earth works used to harvest eels over many generations.
• Continuing cultural connection: remains a living cultural landscape with continuing connections between the Gunditjmara people and the waterways, traditional practices and places within the nominated area.

What to See #

• Budj Bim volcanic complex: The volcanic cone known as Budj Bim (formerly Mount Eccles) is the geophysical source of extensive lava flows that shaped the landscape and provided the substrate for the aquaculture systems developed by the Gunditjmara people.
• Eel-trap wetlands, channels and weirs: Networks of stone channels, weirs and ponds located across lowland areas and lava-flow terrain that were constructed to trap, store and harvest eels and fish; these features demonstrate deliberate landscape engineering over millennia.
• Lake Condah basin and associated wetlands: Lakes and wetland areas such as the Lake Condah basin where stone channels and pond systems concentrate and where evidence of long-term habitation and eel harvesting is preserved.