Mount St Benedict College acknowledges and pays respect to the past and present Traditional Custodians and Elders of this Nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Ancestors have walked this Country and we acknowledge their special and unique place in our Nation’s historical, cultural and linguistic identity.
Visitors should be aware that this Research Guide may contain images or documentation relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are deceased.
Aboriginal oral histories preserve accounts of earthquakes and volcanic activity over thousands of years through stories, songs, ceremonies, dances, and art. Based in the Dreaming a time when ancestral beings shaped the land these traditions explain natural events and features, connecting communities to Country and guiding cultural practices.
According to one Aboriginal story, the shrieks of the bullin were heard by a person named Craitbul and his family as they wandered through what we now call the Newer Volcanics Province.
‘Whibay-gamba’ (Nobbys Headland) has always been a prominent focal point of Mulubinba (place of the Sea Ferns) and its significance has always been understood by the First Nations People who lived in this area.
Mount Warning's cultural name is Wollumbin or more correctly pronounced (Wool-oom-bin), and is considered an extremely important part of the Aboriginal cultural landscape.
Wollumbin stands 1157 metres high today. Twenty million years ago, it was the main plug or outlet of the massive volcano from which poured lava, forming the mountqains and reefs in the north-east corner of New South Wales.
When volcanoes clash: Trancendence tells Australia's history through indigenous eyes.
In another EarthDate, we talked about how Australian Aboriginal people remember star maps using songs. But their oral history has preserved much more in stories that corroborate ancient geological events.
Budj Bim is one of the world’s oldest and most extensive aquaculture sites, dating back at least 6600 years. In 2019, it became the first site in Australia added to the UNESCO World Heritage List purely for its Aboriginal cultural significance.
During the time of creation, Gunditjmara Country was inhabited by beings that were sometimes human, sometimes animal, sometimes neither, and these beings brought the Country into life. Their movements are written across Gunditjmara Country and give meaning to the contemporary landscape.
How Gunditjmara words and traditions hold stories of Victoria's rich volcanic history.
Budj Bim is a dormant volcano in South Western Victoria on Gunditjmara Country. The Budj Bim cultural landscape consists of multiple locations such as Lake Condah and the Tyrendarra Indigenous Protected Area.
Podcast: Budj Bim, being our creator, and that’s who created the systems and the waterway, and how we live, and the fish trap systems, he laid himself out in the countryside, from where you see now, at the front of the Budj Bim cultural landscape.