__NOTOC__ The Budj Bim National Park, formerly known as Mount Eccles National Park, is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

located in the Western District 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The national park is situated approximately west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and approximately southwest of Macarthur. It derives its name from

Budj Bim Budj Bim, also known as Mount Eccles, is a dormant volcano near Macarthur in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It lies within the geologically-defined area known as the Newer Volcanics Province, which is the youngest volcanic area in Australi ...

, formerly Mount Eccles, which is situated in the north-east of the park. The park now forms part of the larger

Budj Bim heritage areas Budj Bim heritage areas includes several protected areas in Victoria, Australia, the largest two being Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape and the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape. Within the latter, there are three Indigenous Protected Areas: the ...

of both national and world significance, due to the extensive systems of

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

created by

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

thousands of years ago and the significance of the area to the

Gunditjmara people The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria (Australia), Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorp ...

Features

Located within the national park is

, formerly named Mount Eccles by the European people who settled in the area, is the site of one of the most recent active

volcanos A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

in Australia. The first activity was about 40,000 years ago when Budj Bim was formed by lava pouring out the Earth's crust. The most recent eruption was approximately 8,000 years ago. Budj Bim is a fairly small hill surrounded by lush vegetation with a small, hidden, deep

volcanic crater lake A volcanic crater lake is a lake in a crater that was formed by explosive activity or a collapse during a volcanic eruption. Formation Lakes in calderas fill large craters formed by the collapse of a volcano during an eruption. Lakes in maars ...

named Lake Surprise. It is famous for an adjacent

lava tube A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ca ...

and there are numerous lava tubes in the surrounding farm land.

Heritage areas

The park was added to the

Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...

in 2004 as part of the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape for its importance in Indigenous history and its geology. As one of three components of the

Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Budj Bim, also known as Mount Eccles, is a dormant volcano near Macarthur, Victoria, Macarthur in southwestern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It lies within the geologically-defined area known as the Newer Volcanics Province, which ...

, it was added to the UNESCO

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

on 6 July 2019.

Management

Budj Bim National Park, as part of the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape, is jointly managed by

Parks Victoria Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia. Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The ''Parks Victoria Ac ...

, the (

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their ...

) Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC) and Winda-Mara TOAC (a south-west Victorian organisation representing

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

in the area). The Council forms part of the 2007

Native Title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

Settlement Agreement between the Gunditjmara and the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

, under which both parties manage the park landscape.

2020 bushfires

During the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season, fires broke out within the Budj Bim Cultural Heritage Landscape. The stone fish traps and the stone house site were unaffected by fire, and fortunately the fires were quickly contained, partly due to mild weather conditions and partly by the efforts of

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s. Lake Condah and Condah Mission were not directly affected by the fires. In the National Park, the campground and picnic area reopened from 29 February 2020, but the Lake Surprise walking track and access to Tunnel Cave were closed due to the impact of the fires. , the Crater Rim Walk and Lava Canal Walk are open, but re-routed near Tunnel Cave.

References

External links