Lake Bolac is a town in the Western District region of Victoria, 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 the major regional centres of Mount Gambier in south-eastern South Australia with Ballarat in western Victoria. Route Glenelg Highway commences at the intersection with Pri ...

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 often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the Djab Wurrung language. The

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of the area are the Girai wurrung people.

History

Pre-colonial inhabitation

Lake Bolac was the northern boundary of the Girai wurrung 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. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

, 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 Pyren ...

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 th ...

migration.

George Augustus Robinson George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was an English born builder and self-trained preacher who was employed by the British colonial authorities to conciliate the Indigenous Australians of Van Diemen's Land and the Po ...

recorded in 1841 that 800 Aboriginal people had gathered at Lake Bolac – 'Lake Boloke' – to feast on plentiful

eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...

, 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 the ...

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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

of the Rural City of Ararat, west of

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

. 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 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, in partnership with the nearby town of Wickliffe, competes as the Magpies in the Mininera & District Football League. 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 (state) Western District (Victoria) {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub