Gunditjmara eel-smoking tree
Gunditj Mirring describes hollowed Manna Gum and Red Gum trees used by Gunditjmara people to smoke eels and fish. At Kurtonitj, an identified smoking tree stands within the wider Budj Bim cultural landscape.
Place · Floors, basins and masonry tanks
Budj Bim eel aquaculture system
Budj Bim eel traps · Gunditjmara eel-holding systems
The Budj Bim system is a set of channels, weirs and holding ponds cut into a basalt lava flow in south-western Victoria, used by the Gunditjmara people to trap, hold and harvest eels.
What it is
The Budj Bim system is a built landscape of eel-holding and eel-trapping works, cut and built into a basalt lava flow in south-western Victoria. The structures include stone channels, weirs and holding and growing ponds. The Gunditjmara people constructed them, and the sources describe them as engineered to trap, store and harvest short-finned eels.
It is a build, not a vessel. Its channels and ponds are part of the ground they were cut into, and moving the system would mean building it again.
Sources for this section
How the parts work
The channels carry water through the lava flow, and the weirs across them guide eels into a place where they can be caught. The holding and growing ponds keep eels alive until they are needed, so the system is a living food reserve rather than a store of dead fish.
The woven eel baskets are placed in the weirs. They were made of river reed and spear grass and regulated the eels by weight and size, so that mature eels could be taken and smaller ones kept or released. The source does not give the exact dimensions of the works.
Sources for this section
Age and continuity
The source dates the first construction to at least 6,600 years ago. Its wording is a minimum age, so no calendar year is given. Many of the systems are still in use today.
The system is recorded in the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape. The listing describes it as a cultural landscape rather than a single structure.
Sources for this section
Limits of the record
The sources give no dimensions for the channels or ponds beyond the statement that some channels are hundreds of metres long, and no water-flow or stocking figures. They do not describe the stone-working method in detail, so the steps on this page follow the sources' general account and no more.
Sources for this section
History
The source states that Gunditjmara people first constructed these aquaculture systems at least 6,600 years ago and that many of them are still in use.
Site
SettingA basalt lava flow from the dormant Budj Bim volcano, in Victoria, Australia
GroundBasalt lava flow, into which channels, weirs and ponds were dug
FootprintStone channels, some of which are hundreds of metres long
NotesThe source gives no climate figures for the site.
Structure and use
Materials
- Basalt lava flow — Channels, weirs and ponds were dug out of the flow
- Woven eel baskets of river reed and spear grass — Crafted by Gunditjmara people to trap and regulate eels by weight and size
- Dig or cut channels into the basalt lava flow to carry water through the system. Some channels are hundreds of metres long.
- Build weirs into the lava flow across the channels, so that eels moving with the water can be caught.
- Dig holding and growing ponds into the lava flow, connected to the channels.
- Set woven eel baskets in the weirs to trap the eels, and use baskets to carry them. The source gives no numbers for any of these stages.
Places
Budj Bim lava flow, Victoria
Traditional preparation · Region evidencePlaced on the Budj Bim lava flow of the dormant Budj Bim volcano. The source gives no more precise locality than the lava flow.
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Sources
Parks VictoriaMethod · History
UNESCO World Heritage listing for Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (Parks Victoria)Structures dug out of basalt lava flow from the dormant Budj Bim volcano: weirs, holding and growing ponds, and stone channels, some hundreds of metres long.
Gunditjmara people crafted long eel baskets of river reeds and spear grass to regulate and trap eels by weight and size.
At least 6,600 years ago the systems were first constructed; many are still in use.
Cited in: What it is; How the parts work; Age and continuity; Limits of the record
National Museum of AustraliaHistory
Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (National Museum of Australia)Gunditjmara eel-holding systems at Budj Bim are a major Australian example of living storage.