ONE of the world’s oldest and most important cultural sites is now open to visitors after major works led by the Gunditjmara Traditional Owners have now been completed.

Visitors to the UNESCO world heritage site of Budj Bim can learn how the Gunditjmara people in south-west Victoria worked for more than 30,000 years with the natural resources and environment.

The State Government invested more than $12 million in the project, which has transformed the area while ensuring the site’s cultural heritage remained protected and enhanced.

Budj Bim is home to fish traps and weirs used for farming eels as well as the remains of over 300 Aboriginal stone houses, evidence of the Gunditjmara People’s permanent settlement in the area.

The entire site will be a destination for locals and visitors to learn about its important cultural history and significance.

 It features a new eel aquaculture education centre, art installations, raised walkways, a cantilevered lookout, an upgraded information centre, carparks and interpretive signage.

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape project encompasses five sites, including Tyrendarra township, Kurtonitj, Lake Condah, Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area, and Budj Bim National Park.

All sites are now complete with official tours of Lake Condah and Kurtonitj to begin in the coming months.

The new works follow ongoing consultation with Traditional Owners including the completion of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan.

The government also supported the recently unveiled Gunditjmara War Memorial Mural in Heywood, through the Stronger Regional Communities Program to ensure their part in Australia's war history is honoured for generations to come.

Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation acting chief executive, Denis Rose said he was happy that the Gunditjmara community would be involved in a site with such cultural significance.

 “The new tourism infrastructure will provide an opportunity to increase the capacity of the local Gunditjmara community to manage nature-based tourism and ensure protection and management of these important cultural places,” he said.

Western Victoria MP Gayle Tierney said the site’s development would also boost tourism to the south-west.

“Visitors can for the first-time experience one of the world’s oldest and most important cultural sites right here in regional Victoria, thanks to a major development project led by the Gunditjmara Traditional Owners,” she said.

For more information go to rdv.vic.gov.au/rjif.