On Monday, two of our staff participating in a collaborative LLEN planning session were privileged to visit the Winda-Mara Budj Bim Orientation Centre; the Budj Birn Indigenous Protective area; the Mission and Lake Condah.

During the tour we learned about the Gunditjmara people who are traditional owners of land extending from Portland, Port Fairy and Warrnambool along the coast and inland through Heywood across to Camperdown. The Gunditjmara people are traditionally river, and lake people, and Lake Condah and the surrounding river systems are of great spiritual importance.

It was exciting to see first- hand, the Budj Bim Cultural Heritage Landscape which has been nominated for inclusion on Australia's World Heritage Tentative List. The area is being managed for environmental and cultural values by local Traditional Owners.

Thousands of years ago, Lake Condah and surrounding wetlands were used by the Gunditjmara people to form channels to harvest eels, and remains of these intricate stone traps are visible at the site which is one of the oldest aquaculture sites in the world.

In 2007, the Gunditjmara achieved recognition of their heritage and identity through the Federal Court of Australia’s Gunditjmara Native Title Consent Determination and Lake Condah was formally returned to Gunditjmara people by the State of Victoria in 2008.

We would like to extend thanks to Anne Murphy and her team at the Glenelg and Southern Grampians LLEN for hosting the planning session and organising the tour.