Lake Bolac is a town in the Western District region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The town is on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the

Glenelg Highway Glenelg Highway is a rural highway in south-eastern Australia, linking Mount Gambier with Ballarat. Most of the highway is located within the Western part of the state of Victoria, though a short, 15 km stretch from the South Australia/V ...

passes through the town. At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of 368. The name derives from ''bulluc'', meaning

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the Djab Wurrung language. The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the area are the

Girai wurrung The Girai wurrung, also spelt Kirrae Wuurong and Kirrae Whurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River up to Mount Hamilton, and the Western Otways from the G ...

people.

History

Pre-colonial inhabitation

Lake Bolac was the northern boundary of the

people's traditional lands, according to

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. Life Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ther ...

, while large groups of up to 1,000

Djab wurrung The Djab Wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrenee ...

and other peoples gathered here for a couple of months during the annual

short-finned eel The short-finned eel (''Anguilla australis''), also known as the shortfin eel, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of t ...

migration.

George Augustus Robinson George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was a British-born colonial official and self-trained preacher in colonial Australia. In 1824, Robinson travelled to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, where he attempted to negotiate ...

recorded in 1841 that 800

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

had gathered at Lake Bolac – 'Lake Boloke' – to feast on plentiful

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

, when "...local tribes numbered only sixty individuals". The name of the lake and thence the town derives from ''bulluc'', meaning

in the Djab Wurrung language. Anthropologist

Harry Lourandos Harry Lourandos (born 1945) is an Australian archaeologist, adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, School of Arts and Social Sciences at James Cook University, Cairns. He is a leading proponent of the theo ...

noted evidence of semi-permanent settlement near the lake.

European settlement

Lake Bolac Post Office opened on 1 November 1864.

2006 tornado

On the night of 19 January 2006 Lake Bolac was hit by what has been described as a " mini-twister". Power lines were torn down, several buildings suffered mild to severe damage, more than 100 trees were uprooted, and eight grain silos were either damaged or destroyed. Around 400 residents lost power due to the tornado, and the damage bill was estimated at .

Location

Lake Bolac is in the Western District region of Victoria, within the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

of the

Rural City of Ararat Ararat Rural City is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 11,795. It includes the towns of Ararat, Armstrong, Dunneworthy, Lake Bo ...

, west of

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

. The town is situated on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the

passes through the town.

Facilities and places of interest

The

Lake Bolac stone arrangement The Lake Bolac stone arrangement, also known as the Kuyang stone arrangement, is an Aboriginal ceremonial site near the town of Lake Bolac in the Western District, north-east of Hamilton, Victoria, Australia. It is one of several Aboriginal st ...

is an Aboriginal ceremonial site near the town, in the shape of a giant stone eel. Lake Bolac has a prep to year 12 school. There is a caravan park on the lake that is popular in summer with holidaying families.

Recreation

The freshwater lake is popular with anglers. The football team is combined with nearby town Wickliffe known as the

Magpies Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...

and plays in the

Mininera & District Football League The Mininera & District Football League is based in South-western Victoria, with clubs located east of Hamilton, south of Ararat and west of Colac. The league absorbed several teams from the defunct Ararat & District Football Association in 20 ...

. The Lake Bolac Golf Club is on Mortlake Road.

Demographics

At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of 368. The language spoken by the

of the area is the Djab Wurrung language.

References

External links

Towns in Victoria (Australia) Western District (Victoria) {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub