EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

STATE PARTY CRITERIA UNDER WHICH PROPERTY IS NOMINATED Australia Criterion (iii). Bear a unique or at least exceptional STATE, PROVINCE OR REGION testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared.

Victoria The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape bears an exceptional testimony to the cultural traditions, knowledge, practices and NAME OF PROPERTY ingenuity of the Gunditjmara. Criterion (v). Be an outstanding example of a traditional Budj Bim Cultural Landscape human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human GEOGRAPHICAL COORDINATES interaction with the environment especially when it has TO THE NEAREST SECOND become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change. The continuing cultural landscape of the Budj Bim Cultural S 38° 03’ 44’’, E 141° 49’ 58’’, being the centroid of Tae Rak Landscape is an outstanding representative example of (Lake Condah) human interaction with the environment and testimony to the lives of the Gunditjmara. TEXTUAL DESCRIPTION OF THE

BOUNDARIES OF THE NOMINATED PROPERTY

The boundaries of the serial nominated property are those of Budj Bim National Park, Budj Bim Indigenous Protected Area, Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area and Lake Condah Mission.

MAPS OF THE NOMINATED PROPERTY, SHOWING BOUNDARIES

ES.1 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Nominated property boundary (Annex C)

ES.2 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Budj Bim (northern) component – nominated property boundary

ES.3 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Kurtonitj (central) component – nominated property boundary

ES.4 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Tyrendarra (southern) component – nominated property boundary

X 141°40'E 141°42'E 141°44'E 141°46'E 141°48'E 141°50'E 141°52'E 141°54'E 141°56'E 141°58'E 142°0'E 142°2'E 37°56'S 37°56'S 37°58'S 37°58'S

D I R E K G U N D I T J HENTY HIGHWAY 38°0'S

Condah 38°0'S Swamp W E R E R O M E K I L L I N G Macarthur 38°2'S Milltown G U N D I T J 38°2'S Tae Rak (Lake Condah) *# Budj Bim (Mount Eccles) 38°4'S

Lake Condah Mission 38°4'S BUDJ BIM K E R R U P (northern component) 38°6'S Killara G U N D I T J 38°6'S KURTONITJ (Darlot (central component) 38°8'S

N I L L A N G U N D I T J 38°8'S Creek)

Bessiebelle

38°10'S E Palawarra G I L G A R G U N D I T J u 38°10'S m W E E R I P e r a l TYRENDARRA l W E E R I P a

CART GUNDITJ (Fitzroy (southern component) G U N D I T J 38°12'S

38°12'S

R i

Tyrendarra v

e r

River) K I L C A R E R PRINCES HIGHWAY 38°14'S

G U N D I T J 38°14'S

Codrington 38°16'S 38°16'S

Portland Bay 38°18'S 38°18'S 38°20'S

Australia Nominated Property Boundary Tow n 38°20'S ± Budj Bim lava flow Highway MGA Zone 54 GDA 94 Wetland Main road 1:200,000

38°22'S ! Sydney 02.551.25 38°22'S ! Melbourne Gunditjmara Locality Name Watercourse kilometres GUNDITJMARA CLAN NAME Contour (20m)

141°40'E 141°42'E 141°44'E 141°46'E 141°48'E 141°50'E 141°52'E 141°54'E 141°56'E 141°58'E 142°0'E 142°2'E

ES.1 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Nominated property bounday (See Annex C for 1:30,000 version) XI 141°46'E 141°48'E 141°50'E 141°52'E 141°54'E 141°56'E 141°58'E 37°58'S 37°58'S

Myamyn-Macarthur Road 38°0'S 38°0'S D I R E K G U N D I T J

Condah Swamp

W E R E R O M E 38°2'S

K I L L I N G 38°2'S G U N D I T J

Tae R ak (Lake Condah) *# Budj Bim (Mount Eccles) Lake Condah 38°4'S

Mission 38°4'S BUDJ BIM (northern component)

Killara 38°6'S K E R R U P 38°6'S (Darlot

G U N D I T J Creek)

N I L L A N G U N D I T J 38°8'S 38°8'S

Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road

E u m Bessiebelle

e r G I L G A R G U N D I T J a l la 38°10'S 38°10'S

R

i v e r

38°12'S Nominated Property Boundary Tow n Australia 38°12'S

Budj Bim lava flow R Road

i v

Tyrendarra ± e MGA Zone 54 Wetland r Watercourse GDA 94 1:120,000

! Sydney 0120.5 Parcel boundary Contours (10m) ! Melbourne kilometres GUNDITJMARA Gunditjmara Locality Name CLAN NAME 38°14'S 38°14'S 141°48'E 141°50'E 141°52'E 141°54'E 141°56'E 141°58'E

XII ES.2 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Budj Bim (northern) component – nominated property boundary 141°46'E 141°47'E 141°48'E

K E R R U P G U N D I T J 38°7'S

38°7'S Creek)

Ettrick-Condah Road

(Darlot

Killara 38°8'S KURTONITJ 38°8'S (central component) 38°9'S 38°9'S Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road

G I L G A R G U N D I T J

Nominated Property Boundary Road Australia ± Budj Bim lava flow Watercourse 38°10'S MGA Zone 54 Wetland Contours (10m) 38°10'S GDA 94 1:30,000

! Sydney 00.510.25 Parcel boundary ! Melbourne kilometres GUNDITJMARA Gunditjmara Locality Name CLAN NAME

141°46'E 141°47'E 141°48'E

ES.3 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Kurtonitj (central) component – nominated property boundary XIII 141°44'E 141°45'E 141°46'E 141°47'E 38°10'S 38°10'S

G I L G A R G U N D I T J

Settlers Road

38°11'S Killara 38°11'S

(Darlot

Palawarra TYRENDARRA

(southern component) Creek)

(Fitzroy

River) 38°12'S 38°12'S

CART GUNDITJ

Mt Clay Road Ettrick-tyrendarraRoad 38°13'S 38°13'S

Nominated Property Boundary Road Australia ± Princes HighwayBudj Bim lava flow Watercourse MGA Zone 54 Wetland Contours (10m) GDA 94 1:30,000

! Sydney 00.510.25 Parcel boundary ! Melbourne kilometres GUNDITJMARA Gunditjmara Locality Name CLAN NAME

141°44'E 141°45'E 141°46'E 141°47'E

XIV ES.4 Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: Tyrendarra (southern) component – nominated property boundary DRAFT STATEMENT OF OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE

BRIEF SYNTHESIS elements of this system are the interconnected clusters of constructed and modified water channels, weirs, dams, ponds The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is located in the and sinkholes in combination with the lava flow, water flow traditional Country of the Gunditjmara Aboriginal people in and ecology and life-cycle of kooyang. The Budj Bim Cultural south-eastern Australia. The three serial components of the Landscape exemplifies the dynamic ecological-cultural property contain one of the world’s most extensive and oldest relationships evidenced in the Gunditjmara’s deliberate aquaculture systems. Over a period of at least 6,600 years manipulation and management of the environment. the Gunditjmara created, manipulated and modified local hydrological regimes and ecological systems. They utilised STATEMENT OF INTEGRITY the abundant local volcanic rock to construct channels, weirs and dams and manage water flows in order to systematically The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape has a high level of integrity. trap, store and harvest kooyang (short-finned eel – Anguilla The serial property incorporates intact and outstanding australis) and support enhancement of other food resources. examples of aquaculture complexes at Tae Rak (Lake The highly productive aquaculture system provided a six Condah), Tyrendarra and Kurtonitj. Each complex includes millennia-long economic and social base for Gunditjmara all the physical elements of the system (that is, channels, society. This deep time interrelationship of Gunditjmara weirs, dams and ponds) that demonstrate the operation of cultural and environmental systems is documented through Gunditjmara aquaculture. The property also includes Budj present-day Gunditjmara cultural knowledge, practices, Bim, a Gunditjmara Ancestral Being and volcano that is the material culture, scientific research and historical documents. source of the lava flow on which the aquaculture system It is evidenced in the aquaculture system itself and in the inter- is constructed. The 9,935-hectare property is sufficient related geological, hydrological and ecological systems. in size to incorporate the cultural features and ecological processes that illustrate the ways multiple systems – social, JUSTIFICATION FOR CRITERIA spiritual, geological, hydrological and ecological – interact and function. The reinstatement of traditional water flows into Criterion (iii): The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape bears Tae Rak through the construction of a cultural weir in 2010, an exceptional testimony to the cultural traditions, following extensive draining of the lake in the 1950s, has knowledge, practices and ingenuity of the Gunditjmara. returned and enhanced the water flow across the aquaculture The extensive networks and antiquity of the constructed system. This restoration, the rugged environment, the use of and modified aquaculture system of the Budj Bim Cultural stone, the relatively intact vegetation and the lack of major Landscape bears testimony to the Gunditjmara as engineers development within the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape mean and kooyang fishers. For at least the past 6,600 years the that the extensive aquaculture system has survived, is in good Gunditjmara created and adapted a system of aquaculture condition and can be readily identified in the landscape. based on deliberate manipulation, modification and management of wetlands and waterways. Gunditjmara STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY knowledge and practices have endured and continue to be passed down through their Elders and are recognisable The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape has a high degree across the wetlands of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in of authenticity. Gunditjmara traditional knowledge is the form of ancient and elaborate systems of stone-walled demonstrated by millennia of oral transmission, through kooyang husbandry (or aquaculture) facilities. Gunditjmara continuity of practice and is supported by documented cultural traditions, including associated storytelling, dance and Gunditjmara cultural traditions and exceptionally well- basket weaving, continue to be maintained by their collective preserved archaeological, environmental and historical multigenerational knowledge. evidence. The authenticity of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is evident in the continuing connection of the Criterion (v): The continuing cultural landscape of Gunditjmara to their landscape and their traditional and the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is an outstanding historical knowledge of the life cycle of kooyang. Authenticity representative example of human interaction with the is also evident in the practices associated with the trapping, environment and testimony to the lives of the Gunditjmara. storage and harvesting of kooyang; including the construction The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape was created by the of stone weirs and weaving of fibre baskets. In 2007, the Gunditjmara who purposefully harnessed the productive Australian Federal Court recognised the native title rights of potential of the patchwork of wetlands on the Budj Bim the Gunditjmara for their “strong and unrelenting connection lava flow. They achieved this by creating, modifying and to this area where their ancestors farmed eels for food and maintaining an extensive hydrological engineering system trade, at the time of European settlement and back through that manipulated water flow in order to trap, store and harvest millennia.” kooyang that migrate seasonally through the system. The key

XV REQUIREMENTS FOR PROTECTION NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION AND MANAGEMENT OF OFFICIAL LOCAL INSTITUTIONAL All of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is Aboriginal-owned AGENCY and/or managed and is managed to respect the customary Australian Government Department of the Environment and legal rights and obligations of the Gunditjmara Traditional and Energy Owners. The nominated property is protected and managed through an adaptive and participatory management framework GPO Box 787 of overlapping and integrated customary, governance, Canberra ACT 2601 legislative and policy approaches. Australia

The Gunditjmara Traditional Owners apply customary Tel: 61 2 6274 1111 knowledge and scientific approaches through two E-mail: [email protected] management regimes; a co-operative arrangement with Web address: www.environment.gov.au the Victorian Government for Budj Bim National Park; and Indigenous ownership of the Budj Bim and Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Areas. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape management system is established through the 2015 Ngootyoong Gunditj, Ngootyoong Mara South West Management Plan. A team of Budj Bim Rangers, funded through the Australian Government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy program, manage, conserve and protect the heritage values of the nominated property in accordance with property management plans.

The majority of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is included on Australia’s National Heritage List, and is protected by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Once included on the World Heritage List, the entire property will be recognised as a ‘Matter of National Environmental Significance’ and protected by the Act. All Gunditjmara cultural heritage on Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is protected by Victoria’s Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006.

There are no major threats to either the aquaculture system or to the maintenance of associated Gunditjmara cultural traditions, knowledge and practices. Nevertheless there are pressures on the nominated property associated with pest plants and animals, water flow and quality, sustaining kooyang populations, unauthorised access of cattle and regrowth of trees within some aquaculture features. The restoration of Tae Rak in 2010 has contributed to maintaining and rejuvenating water flows through the aquaculture system; thereby ensured the ongoing viability of living Gunditjmara cultural traditions and practices.

The 2014 Budj Bim (Tourism) Master Plan establishes requirements for sustainable tourism and visitation, as well as educational opportunities, for the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape.

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