Lake Condah, also known by its

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of southwestern Victoria in Australia. They are the Traditional Owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. ...

name Tae Rak, is in the Australian state of Victoria, about west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and north-east of Heywood by road. It is in the form of a shallow basin, about in length and wide. The lake is located in the Newer Volcanics Province, a geologically-defined area of western Victoria with the youngest volcanoes in Australia, not far west of the

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 Austra ...

(Mt Eccles) volcano. It lies just outside the boundary of Budj Bim National Park, but within the

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 ...

, including the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, added to the

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

in 2019. The area is known for the extensive

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. Nelu ...

systems created by the local

people.

Location and description

The closest town is Heywood, some west of Melbourne. The lake is shallow, and about 4km long and 1km wide. It lies within the

, an area known for the ancient aquaculture systems created by the Gunditjmara at least 6,600 years ago to trap

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 ...

s (''kooyang'') and other fish. See also attached documents: National Heritage List ''Location and Boundary Map'', and ''Government Gazette'', 20 July 2004.

History

The lake was probably created by

lava flow Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

s during or after an eruption of

. It is not a

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the Western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

, but a shallow basin on the lava plain. The volcano last erupted about 36,900 years BP. The Kerrup-Jmara ("people of the lake") are a clan of Gunditjmara Aboriginal people, who lived around the shores of the lake, which they called Tae Rak, for thousands of years pre-dating the arrival of Europeans, and had specific responsibility for it. Lake Condah was first happened upon by European settlers in 1841, when David Edgar and William Thompson Edgar were travelling through the area. Edgar gave it the name Lake Condon. Anglican pastoralist Cecil Pybus Cooke, who in 1849 acquired Lake Condah station, changed the name of Lake Condon to Lake Condah in the mistaken belief that it meant "

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

", which lived on the lake. The Gunditjmara people were driven off their lands by the new settlers, and some were relocated to Lake Condah Mission, although not without resistance, in the

Eumeralla Wars The Eumeralla Wars were the violent encounters over the possession of land between British colonists and Gunditjmara Aboriginal people in what is now called the Western District (Victoria), Western District area of south-west Victoria (Australia ...

. Damaging floods in 1946 led to the construction of a large drain along the

swampland 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 ...

, which was connected to the spring at the Mission that flowed into Darlots Creek, completed in 1954. Various plans to restore water to the lake were proposed in the late 20th century, until after March 2008, when Lake Condah was returned to Gunditjmara people. The Lake Condah Restoration Conservation Management Plan was completed in a way that ensured that cultural heritage values were maintained, and works were completed in 2010, winning the Civil Contractors Federation Earth Award.

References

{{Lakes of Victoria

Condah Condah is a small town in south west Victoria, Australia and is located on the Henty Highway north of Heywood. At the 2006 census, Condah and the surrounding area had a population of 272. It is about to north-west of Lake Condah, Budj B ...