Lake Condah
Historic artefacts relating to the land's association with the Kerrup-jmara people
Lake Condah is a very shallow basin measuring about 4 km by 1 km which is located at the north-western edge of Mt Eccles National Park, 357 km west of Melbourne and 25 km north-east of Heywood.

The Kerrup-jmara people have lived on the shores of Lake Condah for many thousands of years as it proved a reliable source of food and, of course, water. Kangaroos frequented the shores and the lake was full of waterbirds, eels and fish. They are one of four clans of the Gournditch-jmara ('men of Condah') tribe who occupied the land from the coast in the south to Mount Napier in the north and from the Eumerella River in the east to the Glenelg River in the west.

The Aborigines of Western Victoria differed from those in other areas of the state in a number of respects. Owing to the cold conditions they wore well-made rugs of opossum and kangaroo skin which doubled at night as blankets, and they built huts from wood and local basalt with roofs of turf and branches. Many of these houses were established around Lake Condah and their ruins can still be seen on high ground beside the lake, particularly at the south-eastern end of the basin where it joins up with Darlots Creek.

This part of the lagoon was important to the Kerrup-jmara for, as the lake filled each year, it overflowed, releasing, into the creek, fish and eels. The latter then migrated to the ocean for breeding purposes. For this reason the Kerrup-jmara created stone races, water canals, fish traps and woven fibre nets to catch the passing marine life. Here are some of the best preserved ancient Aboriginal fish traps in the country. They are estimated to be about 8000 years old. You can still see them at the head of the creek. It is also possible to see old ovens near the edge of the lake.

When white pastoralists moved into country Victoria in the late 1830s and 1840s they took over the land and the water access sites, depriving the indigenous people of their hunting and foraging grounds and their access to water. As cattle and sheep displaced native animals, Aborigines were deprived of their traditional food sources so they began spearing the introduced species. In retaliation Europeans resorted to brutal murderous violence. The Gournditch-jmara were known as warriors and, like many Aboriginal groups, they fought back but European firearms were the decisive factor. Dispossession and the destruction of their culture (which is rooted in a profound spiritual attachment to their lands) led to trauma, alienation and alcoholism amongst the indigenous peoples.

The colonial government tried to give Aborigines some protection through the Aboriginal Protectorate (1838-1850) but to little avail. The first Aboriginal missions were established in 1851 and, in 1858, a select committee was formed to investigate the problems facing the nation's indigenous peoples. It recommended the formation of reserves on former hunting grounds to isolate them from alcohol and other deleterious European influences. Missionaries were to superintend the reserves. They were funded from both church and government sources and given a brief of 'civilising through Christianising'. This scheme was managed through the Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines.

Europeans first encountered the lake in 1841. They named it Lake Condon and the first pastoral licence was issued in 1843. A subsequent licensee, C.P. Cooke, renamed it Lake Condah as he mistakenly thought this was the Gournditch-jmara term for the black swan which was plentiful on the lake (Cooke is thought to have established cordial relations with the Gournditch-jmara).

In 1867 the pastoral license was revoked and the Anglican mission was established on high ground 3 km from the lake. An earlier mission north-east of Warrnambool had failed as the Gournditch-jmara would not settle there with traditional tribal enemies. Thus Lake Condah proved unusual in Victoria for its internal cohesion, owing to its tribal homogeneity.

In 1869, about 70 people were residing on the mission which covered 2043 acres, 14 of which had been cleared and fenced. There were 220 sheep and 19 cattle. A report noted 'four huts, in which a few of the blacks reside. The remainder live in mia-mias. There is a storehouse and a missionary's hut'.

By the end of 1870 there were 24 buildings completed or nearing completion. 16 were slab-cottage domiciles with bark roofs. There was a bluestone missionary's house, slab kitchen, school room (which doubled as a house of worship), teacher's residence, a 'substantial storehouse', cartshed, stables and harness room, together with 'two 15-acre paddocks'. Organised in the English green fashion, the mission was in a quadrangle form with three sides devoted to Aboriginal housing and a fourth to the mission buildings. 28 children were attending the school in November 1871.

A visitor in 1872 wrote 'The settlement is situated at the top of a gentle rise, about two or three miles from the lake itself, which cannot be seen from the station. The latter consists of about two dozen cottages...belonging to the blacks, a substantially-built stone school-house and large cottage for Mr Shaw (the manager) and another cottage for Mr Hogan. They are all built in a sort of large hollow square. The blacks' houses are of slabs of bark [sic], very neatly put up, and some of them have verandahs in the front, and three or four have little fenced-in gardens...The houses consist of two rooms and a huge fireplace; several of them also have boarded floors...We saw white window-blinds..and..grapevines'. At the schoolhouse they found that 'the children's copybooks..were so clean, and the copies carefully written...I was particularly struck with the neat and comfortable appearance of the place, and the happy contented look of the people'.

Life was regulated on the mission. Traditional ceremonies had no place and, although permanent rations were supplied, hunting and fishing were permitted once a week. By February 1873 there were 170 cattle, 6 horses, 26 buildings, an average of 78 Aborigines (27 male, 21 female, 30 children) and the entire reserve (now much extended) was fenced and divided into five paddocks: three for grazing and two for agriculture. An 1874 report noted most of the children could read and write.

From 1875 to 1913 the mission was managed by Reverend Stahle, an ascetic, pragmatic disciplinarian who was sincerely devoted to the mission and the cause of Aboriginal welfare. However his strictness and inflexible management style created some ambivalence in the community. His strict curtailment of autonomy caused friction with some Aborigines, occasioning some reasonably serious rebellions (one in 1880 was only quelled with police intervention). Prayer attendance for example was compulsory with rations stopped for non-attendance and some resented receiving only shelter, rations and pocket money in return for their labour.

Stahle's 1877 report records that 'Their old customs and superstitions have almost entirely vanished'. He noted a well-attended Sunday school and singing lessons. Three older educated boys were employed in learning 'some practical station work'. An 1876 report indicates that some of the mission's residents were working for European settlers off the mission and efforts were made to regulate the activity to prevent exploitation. An 1877 Royal Commission determined that Aborigines were not ready to be assimilated into European society.

The years 1879 and 1880 saw old huts replaced by new timber, bluestone or limestone cottages with galvanised roofs and verandahs and the extension of pasturage through swamp drainage.

In 1882 there were 82 Aborigines at the mission (52 being full-blood). That year work on St Mary's Church commenced. It was built of bluestone quarried locally and carried by the mission residents on their shoulders. It opened in 1885. A contemporary is quoted as saying 'The women sat on one side of the aisle and the men on the other..The singing was something to listen to..The black people loved their church and were always reverent. No one kept the sabbath as they did. After the evening service they often gathered at someone's home to sing Sankey hymns. They loved singing'. In 1883 homes were expanded and a stone bridge built across Darlots Creek.

A major turning point came in 1886 when the Aborigines Protection Law Amendment Act redefined the 'Aborigine' in such a way as to exclude those of mixed racial origin who were aged under 35. These people (about half the Aboriginal population) were now defined as white and were forced to leave the missions and stations in order that they may be assimilated into the broader society (it was assumed the other half of the population would probably be extinct in 20 years). Having no real experience of European society, and no conception of themselves as white, they were forced out into a highly racist society which accepted them neither as white nor equal and forced them to live entirely by their own means at a time when the country was entering a severe economic depression.

A consequence of the Act was the closure of some missions and the decline of the rest with the land reverting back to the government. At Lake Condah further anger was caused in 1887 when the Board sold the cattle, taking the money both for this and for the sale of wool when the livestock had been largely donated by local farmers to the Aborigines (not the board) and the labour carried out at the mission. Their protests led to the establishment of nominal wages for services rendered.

The mission's Aboriginal population peaked at 117 in 1889 but the newly-defined half-castes were forced to leave that year, leaving 'chiefly old people'. Some did not move far away and these people attended church services and school at the mission but the drastic loss of labour made the mission hard to sustain. Stahle strongly urged the Board to grant some of the reserve's land to the now impoverished and culturally deracinated part-Aborigines but they refused and revoked 2050 acres in the 1890s. The numbers slowly dwindled over the next 20 years though the exiles continued to regard the mission as home, having nowhere else to go. By 1905 the number of permanent residents had declined to an average of 34 full-blood people who expected the closure of the mission to signal their extinction. Houses were falling vacant and being demolished.

A 1910 amendment to the Act recognised that assimilation of most mixed-blood Aborigines had failed and authorised assistance to these people from the missions and stations. However, numbers did not much increase and some associated with the mission enlisted in World War I. By 1916 the reserve was severely dilapidated and there were only four elderly Aborigines left and, despite the protests of Aborigines and local residents, it was closed in 1919. The four were allowed to remain under a guardian but the land was leased for grazing. However, the local Aborigines still considered the land theirs, as attested to by their consistent requests (from 1890) that the land be reserved for them and/or that they be allowed to live on it. Despite the backing of 1000 local white ratepayers a 1919 application was again turned down by the Board.

Nonetheless local Aborigines continued to reside in the few remaining structures, they used the church until it was demolished in 1957 and they still met on the land for social and sporting purposes.

After 1945 almost the entire remainder of the mission reserve was revoked. A further request that 46 acres be kept for the use of the local Aborigines was denied. Instead it was reserved for 'public purposes' and the remaining 2000 acres leased to veterans returning from World War II, though none went to local Aboriginal veterans such as Reg Saunders who was the first Aboriginal to become an officer (he later received an MBE).

In the 1980s part of the mission was purchased and the land was granted to the traditional owners who are currently organising a tourist venture based around guided tours of the site, tel: (03) 5527 2051.

Things to see:  

Mission Ruins
In the 1980s part of the mission was purchased and the land was granted to the traditional owners. They are conducting guided informative tours of the mission ruins and of the Lake area which retains evidence of ancient occupation, such as the ruins of ancient bluestone huts, ovens and fish traps which have been dated as 8000 years old.

Work is being done to expand and develop the enterprise but the tours are certainly up and running for interested parties, tel: (03) 5527 1699. These tours are the only form of access to the historic sites.

An Email About Lake Condah
Greetings...just spent a lovely long weekend at Mt Eccles in Victoria after reading up on Lake Condah on your website. Mt Eccles was brilliant but, despite extensive information about the lake's history on your site, we couldn't find it!! Drove around for hours up every dirt track we could find (we had 5 different maps!!)..who would believe an entire lake could be so elusive.Found the old mission ruins easily enough but no information at all about how to get to the lake...no signposts, no contact numbers, no nothing. We understand that the lake is in the hands of the traditional landholders and after our experience this weekend it doesn't seem like they really want people to visit the lake. Perhaps you could add this info to your website or at least add further information as to how to access the lake as we were very disappointed that we missed out on seeing all those fab Koorie ruins...

Regards

Julia