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The Holocene
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Environmental and cultural change on the Mt Eccles lava-flow landscapes of southwest Victoria, Australia

Heather Builth

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia, hbuilth{at}bigpond.com

A. Peter Kershaw

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Chris White

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Anna Roach

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Lee Hartney

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Merna McKenzie

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Tara Lewis

School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Geraldine Jacobsen

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai NSW 2234, Australia

The Gunditjmara people developed a socio-economic system based on the modification of wetland ecosystems associated with the Mt Eccles lava flow primarily for sustainable production and management of the highly nutritious shortfin eel (Anguilla australis). This paper examines the environmental history of these landscapes since their inception about 30 000 years ago, through palaeoecological analysis of sediment cores from associated lakes and swamps, in order to contribute to an understanding of the causes and timing of cultural transformation. Two records cover the whole of the 30 000 year history of the landscape while two others provide evidence of change within the Holocene. A great deal of variation within the landscape is revealed, both temporally and spatially, with opportunities for human exploitation through the whole recorded period. Although most features of the records can be explained by natural landscape development and climate change, some human modification can be suggested from around the Pleistocene—Holocene transition while more obvious indications of management relating to eel aquaculture are evident from about 4000 cal. yr BP that appear to include adaptations to the onset of a drier and more variable climate. The study has implications for the explanation of intensification of settlement in Australia more generally within the mid to late Holocene.

Key Words: Aboriginal land management • eel aquaculture • volcanic landscape • Budj Bim • palynology • vegetation history • human—environment relationships • Holocene • Victoria • Australia.

The Holocene, Vol. 18, No. 3, 413-424 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683607087931
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