IT was a proud day for the Gunditjmara community on Friday, when the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC) marked the completion of their major infrastructure revamp with the official opening hosted at the new ‘Tae Rak’ Aquaculture Centre at Lake Condah.

Five sites on Gunditjmara owned land have been developed thanks to a $12m state funded Budj Bim Cultural Landscape project to increase the cultural use of the land, and open it up for use as an attractive tourist destination.

The sites include a Tyrendarra information area, Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area, Kurtonitj, Lake Condah, and Budj Bim National Park.

Tours of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, home to fish traps and weirs used for farming eels as well as the remains of more than 300 Aboriginal stone houses which date back over 30,000 years, are set to begin operating in the coming months.

Gunditjmara Elders, GMTOAC workers and Budj Bim rangers were joined by Victorian Regional Development minister Mary-Anne Thomas, as well as representatives from Glenelg Shire Council, DELWP, and many other groups and individuals who have been involved in the project.

Clad with blackened timber, red gum boards, rusted steel and brass the new Tae Rak building is striking, but still manages to sit comfortably in its environment – a credit to Hamilton’s Cooper Scaife architects, who designed the building.

Also a part of the works at the site is a suspended boardwalk over to the edge of the lake, offering views across the wetlands filled with birds and other aquatic life to visitors that will be incorporated into the tours run by GMTOAC.

Tae Rak is a Dhawurd Wurrung name for Lake Condah, which has also benefited from the State Government recently, when GMTOAC secured entitlement to 2.5 gigalitres of unallocated water in the Fitzroy River system.

GMTOAC acting CEO Denis Rose says that these two developments, as well as the area’s recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site represent a massive step forward for the Gunditjmara communities’ confidence in being able to establish sustainable business opportunities for people to be able to live and work on country.

“It ensures that water is available for both the environmental and cultural values of Budj Bim.

“It’s great to see how (Budj Bim) looks now…to see the health of the country that’s been improved is most definitely something to be proud of.”

“One of the interesting issues that arose when we were trying to get the world heritage recognition was that the assessors had a fair number of questions regarding the quality and continuity of water in the system.

“We are listed because we have one of the world’s oldest aquaculture systems in the world so certainly water and the health of the animals that depend on the water is important to that.

“From my perspective this is all about people within the landscape here, and that includes current use and future use of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape as well, while the country tells the story of our Gunditjmara ancestor and what they did.”

Mr Rose says his ancestors left “a great legacy” behind at Budj Bim and is happy to see Gunditjmara people able to continue their traditions and share their culture on the same land and help Gunditjmara people who feel distanced from their culture reconnect.

Inside the Tae Rak aquaculture centre building is the main visitor centre and shop where visitors will have their first encounter with the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape.

The interior is lined with plywood featuring patterns borrowed from a possum skin cloak artefact, with an enormous red gum slab serving as the shop counter.

Behind the shop is a large tile and stainless steel commercial kitchen, with a section towards the back set up for processing and smoking eels that are going to be farmed on the site, as an education tool that will be incorporated into the tours, as well as the start of a new business venture with employment opportunities that continue a long tradition for Gunditjmara people.

General manager of commercial tourism Georgie Knight, who has spent the past 25 years working in tourism and hospitality in Queensland, thinks the potential for the area is enormous.

“We want to create something really, really unique here.

“I think there are going to be a lot of people who will feel they need to come and visit here, from school groups and people just passing through to really high-end visitors wanting luxury accommodation and somewhere to land their helicopters.

“But with all of this you want to make sure it’s all sensitive to keeping a pristine environment that’s respectful of the culture.

“All of the infrastructure that you can see allows us to be able to experience it up close, but without doing that damage, which is why we have these amazing walkways and platforms.

With the combination of two hour, half day and full day tours that will be running on the site, Ms Knight says they are projecting around 100 visitors to Budj Bim each day.

“One of the objectives and very strong consideration for the Gunditjmara people is to make sure we have a sustainable and respectful operation, so we don't want to see the day where we've got hundreds of busloads of people coming through.

“This is about stimulating employment … and using or taking culture and then basically creating employment out of that allowing people to have jobs on country. So the processing will take place here the tank will be used as a holding tank.

“We will process eel and smoke eel here on site. We've got the facilities for all of that so we can grow with the business as it grows. But down the track if we decide to you know to really get into the eel business, we can look at exporting and so on and that will require another investment. But for now, the purpose of the eel is for display and education purposes, that's pretty integrated through the tourism business.”

Mr Rose says GMTOAC have more in the works as well, with further infrastructure planned alongside the expansion of the tours.

“We're just in the process of sort of looking at and revising the third stage of the tourism master plan, so certainly accommodation is one that we want to look at.

“We don't currently have any high-quality tourism accommodation within Budj Bim or nearby.”

Following a tour of the new building and visits to some other newly developed sites, Regional Development minister Mary-Anne Thomas said she was sure the cultural tours and infrastructure would draw tourists to the area.

“What the Gunditjmara people have created here on the cultural landscape of Budj Bim is mind blowing. This is significant. It's a huge achievement.

“International visitors want to experience authentic Aboriginal tourism experiences.

We know that this site with its UNESCO status, as a cultural landscape will attract people from right around the world, this will create many economic opportunities for young Gunditjmara people, and I look forward to the success of Budj Bim, not only as a place for the Gunditjmara people, but as an iconic tourism destination that will put the south coast on the tourist map.”