History of aquaculture
Located in south-west Victoria, Budj Bim is the only Australian World Heritage site listed exclusively for its Aboriginal cultural values. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape shows the world's earliest living example of aquaculture with a history of kooyang (eel) farming dating back over 6,000 years.
Local Gunditjmara people used volcanic rock created by the Budj Bim lava flow to construct fish traps, weirs and ponds to manage the water flows from nearby Lake Condah in order to trap eels. The existence of these eel traps dispels the myth that Aboriginal people were primarily nomadic, living in resource-constrained environments.
The Gunditjmara people also crafted long eel baskets, made of river reeds and spear grass to regulate and trap the eels according to weight and size. Baskets were used to carry the eels, which sustained the lives of Gunditjmara for generations.
The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape or 'cultural precinct' is a series of locations, including Lake Condah, Muldoon's Trap Complex and the Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area.