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Budj Bim, also known as Mount Eccles, is a dormant volcano near Macarthur in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It lies within the geologically defined area known as the Newer Volcanics Province, which is the youngest volcanic area in Australia and stretches from western Victoria to south-eastern South Australia.
It is situated within the Budj Bim National Park. Budj Bim is the Gunditjmara name, meaning "High Head". The roughly conical peak rises above surrounding area. The peak is a scoria hill that was thrown up beside a group of three overlapping that now contain Lake Surprise. A line of smaller craters and scoria cones runs to the southeast. extend to form a shield volcano and are fed by several , or "lava canals" as they are known locally. This lava flow, known as the Tyrendarra lava flow, changed the drainage pattern of the region, and created large wetlands.
Large areas to the west and south-west of the mountain have been heritage-listed. The Budj Bim heritage areas include the Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area (designated in December 2003), the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape (added to the National Heritage List in July 2004), and the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2019).
Initial estimates of the age of the eruption of Budj Bim were all "minimum ages", based on that formed some time after the eruption and ranged from 6,000 to 27,000 years before present. Later evidence suggested that the eruption was at least 30,000 BP (using dated in the floor of the Lake Surprise crater) and could have been as long as 40,000 years ago for the Tyrendarra lava flow. Research published in February 2020 using argon–argon dating, a method of radiometric dating, has dated the eruption at around 36,900 years ago. Specifically, Budj Bim was dated at within 3,100 years either side of 36,900 years before present, and Tower Hill was dated at within 3,800 years either side of 36,800 years before present. Significantly, owing to the presence of human artefacts found under volcanic ash at Tower Hill, this is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the Gunditjmara oral histories which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest in existence.
The eruptions produced the Tyrendarra lava flow, which flowed in a generally southerly direction into the ocean at Tyrendarra, away. The flow disrupted the earlier drainage system; to the east the Fitzroy River now flows cleanly between the rocks of the lava flow and the Mount Clay escarpment; to the west its tributary Darlot Creek flows through a more complex landscape of swamps, wetlands and adjacent low-lying land prone to flooding.
The Tyrendarra lava flow changed the drainage pattern of the region, and created large wetlands. From some thousands of years before European settlement (one of five eel trap systems at Lake Condah has been carbon dated to 6,600 years old), the Gunditjmara people developed a system of aquaculture which channelled the water of the Darlot Creek into adjacent lowlying areas trapping and other fish in a series of , dams and channels. The discovery of these large-scale farming techniques and manipulation of the landscape, highlighted in Bruce Pascoe's best-selling book Dark Emu in 2014, shows that the Indigenous inhabitants were not only , but cultivators and farmers.
Many Gundjitmara people were moved into Lake Condah Mission, which later became a government-run Aboriginal reserve, which separated "half-caste" children from their parents, who became part of the Stolen Generations.
Protected areas
There are several overlapping protected area, two of which encompass Budj Bim itself and the others the lava flows:
Naming Mount Eccles
The mountain was named Mount Eeles in 1836 by Major Thomas Mitchell after William Eeles of the 95th Regiment of Foot who fought with Mitchell in the Peninsular War. A draftsman's error meant that the name was rendered Eccles from 1845.Learmonth, Noel F. (1970). Four Towns and a Survey. Hawthorn Press: Melbourne
See also
Further reading
Categories: Australian National Heritage List, Geography Of Victoria, Volcanoes Of Victoria, Australian Aboriginal Cultural History, Australian Aboriginal Missions, Archaeological Sites In Victoria, Mountains Of Victoria, Inactive Volcanoes, Volcanic Crater Lakes, Western District, World Heritage Sites In Victoria, Pleistocene Volcanoes, Mountains Of Barwon South West, Sacred Mountains Of Australia
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