Traditional owners devastated by alleged damage to 1,500-year-old stone arrangement in Victoria
Traditional owners say they are “devastated and traumatised” by the alleged damage to a 1,500-year-old heritagelisted stone arrangement which curved up the hill in the shape of an eel and was a significant ceremonial and meeting site prior to European colonisation.
The Kuyang stone arrangement stretched across 176 metres of private farmland at Lake Bolac in south-western Victoria, about 230km west of Melbourne. It depicts a juvenile eel, or Kuyung in south west Aboriginal languages. It is visible from the Glenelg Highway, and the tail end of the structure was reportedly damaged when the highway was created.
On Sunday, a non-Indigenous local living in the Lake Bolac area reported that a section of the stone arrangement appeared to have been damaged by a grader.
Inspectors from the regulator, Aboriginal Victoria, travelled to Lake Bolac on Tuesday to assess the reported damage.In a statement, Aboriginal Victoria said the organisation was “investigating allegations of harm” to the stone arrangement and had met with both the registered Aboriginal Party, the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, and the private land owners.
“Aboriginal Victoria will continue to work with the landowner and RAP to determine what has occurred and what further action needs to be taken,” the statement said. “An authorised officer has issued a stop order under the Aboriginal heritage act to prevent any further harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage.”
Victorian Aboriginal affairs minister, Gabrielle Williams, said any alleged unauthorised damage to Aboriginal cultural heritage was “reprehensible”.
The Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, says up to 60 metres of the stone arrangement appears to have been destroyed.
The Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation CEO, Marcus Clarke, a Gunditjmara-Kirrae Whurrong man, said it was “pretty devastating” to hear the site had been damaged.
“We can’t underestimate the importance of the site or the devastation the destruction has caused,” he said. “The
Lake Bolac site has been an important gathering site prior to European colonisation and is steeped in cultural and historical importance.”
The stone arrangement sits on private farm land that has been owned by the same family for more than 120 years. It was recorded on the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register in 1975, and is one of the most well-known stone arrangements in the state.
Clarke said members of Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation viewed the site from the roadside after the damage was reported. He said they don’t have the authority to go on to private land and will wait for the Aboriginal Victoria heritage assessment team to provide its initial report.
“[We are] devastated, it’s pretty traumatic,” he said. “Cultural heritage in the landscape underpins pretty much everything that we do, and that’s our role – to protect cultural heritage. [Damage to] something as significant as that site, it’s pretty traumatic.”
He said the site was “very well known” by both Aboriginal and nonAboriginal people in the area, due to the annual eel festival at Lake Bolac and because the site is visible from the road.
It’s just 100km from the world heritage-listed Budj Bim eel traps.
Clarke said the destruction by Rio Tinto of the Juukan Gorge Aboriginal heritage site in Western Australia had raised the profile of protecting Aboriginal heritage in the national psyche, and Aboriginal Victoria had also worked with landowners to ensure they were aware of their obligations to protect heritage.
Paul Paton, the chief executive of the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Councils, said he was “heartbroken” for the Eastern Maar people.