Anakie: History, Geology, Dreaming, and Country
The town of Anakie, located between Geelong and Ballarat on Wadawurrung Country, is a place where ancient volcanic forces, rich biodiversity, and deep cultural stories converge. While today it is a rural township framed by the Brisbane Ranges National Park, Anakie’s name, landscape, and living heritage embody tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal custodianship, disrupted yet enduring through colonisation and truth-telling (Broome 2005; Wadawurrung TOAC 2023).
The Meaning of the Name “Anakie”
The name Anakie derives from the Wadawurrung language, often interpreted as “little hill” or “hill of many small stones” (Clark 1990). This meaning reflects the district’s volcanic rises—remnants of eruptions and lava flows that shaped the Victorian Volcanic Plains.
For the Wadawurrung, hills and rocky outcrops were not merely geological features. They were markers of story and orientation, encoded in language and law (Blake 1991).
Volcanic Geology of Anakie
The Anakie Hills and nearby Brisbane Ranges are the products of ancient volcanic activity, dating back more than 25 million years. Basalt flows and scoria cones created the “stony rises” that define the terrain, and fertile volcanic soils supported diverse plant and animal life (Presland 1994).
Rocky outcrops also provided raw material for stone tools, grinding stones, and shelters used for thousands of years by the Wadawurrung (Clark 1990).
Pre-Colonisation Biodiversity
Before colonisation, Anakie sat within a mosaic of grassland and woodland sustained by Wadawurrung fire-stick farming (Gammage 2011).
Flora
Murnong (yam daisy): A staple carbohydrate crop, cultivated through digging and burning (Presland 1994).
Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra): Managed with fire to encourage seed and grazing animals (Broome 2005).
Eucalypts, wattles, cherry ballart: Used for tools, medicine, and ceremony (Clarke 2008).
Fauna
Kangaroos, wallabies, emus: Central to diet and ceremony.
Possums and birds: Important for food and skins.
Aquatic species: Eels and mussels from nearby rivers, part of broader Aboriginal aquaculture practices (Clark 1990).
This ecological system was maintained by deliberate cultural burning, creating rich habitat mosaics (Gammage 2011).
Dreaming Stories of Anakie
Anakie’s volcanic hills and surrounding ranges are bound to Wadawurrung Dreaming narratives. Stories link Purra the Kangaroo, Bunjil the Eaglehawk, and other ancestral beings to the hills, rivers, and constellations. These stories functioned as moral teachings, ecological calendars, and ceremonial laws (Broome 2005; Hamacher 2012).
The name Anakie, tied to “small stones,” may itself reflect a Dreaming narrative of ancestors embodied in volcanic landforms (Blake 1991).
Brisbane Ranges National Park: Ecological and Cultural Heart
The Brisbane Ranges, on whose foothills Anakie rests, form one of Victoria’s most significant ecological and cultural landscapes.
The park protects over 600 plant species, making it one of the richest floristic reserves in southern Victoria (RBGV 2023).
Rare species include Grevillea steiglitziana and the rosella spider orchid.
Fauna includes koalas, sugar gliders, wedge-tailed eagles, and numerous reptiles.
For the Wadawurrung, the ranges provided waterholes, stone for tools, and ceremonial grounds. Cool burning created open woodlands and hunting areas, practices now being reintroduced by Wadawurrung Traditional Owners in partnership with Parks Victoria (DEECA Victoria 2022; Wadawurrung TOAC 2023).
Colonisation and Dispossession
From 1836, squatters began moving into the Anakie district, bringing sheep and cattle. Governor Bourke’s squatter licensing system legitimised settler claims to vast tracts of Wadawurrung land (Reynolds 1987).
Frontier clashes occurred around the Brisbane Ranges and Moorabool River.
Massacres in the 1830s–40s decimated clans (Clark 1995).
Survivors were forced onto missions such as Coranderrk and Framlingham (Barwick 1998).
Colonisation not only dispossessed land but sought to suppress Wadawurrung cosmology and ecological knowledge (Broome 2005).
Goldfields Era and After
Though Anakie itself was not a goldfield, it became a service hub for travellers moving between Geelong and the Ballarat goldfields. Nearby Steiglitz boomed as a mining township. Anakie supplied grazing land, timber, and produce to the gold economy, but this came at the cost of ecological degradation and Aboriginal dispossession (Presland 1994).
Anakie Today: Conservation and Renewal
Modern Anakie lies on the edge of the Brisbane Ranges National Park, which protects remnants of pre-colonial ecology.
Biodiversity conservation continues, with orchids and koalas among the species safeguarded (RBGV 2023).
Cultural burning is being re-established by Wadawurrung people, restoring both ecological and spiritual balance (DEECA 2022).
Cultural heritage sites are being recognised, with Wadawurrung voices central to land management (Wadawurrung TOAC 2023).
Conclusion
Anakie is not just a rural township; it is a cultural–ecological archive. Its volcanic stones, plant mosaics, and Dreaming narratives embody thousands of years of Wadawurrung custodianship. Colonisation fractured these connections, but through truth-telling, conservation, and cultural renewal, Anakie’s stories are resurfacing.
Recognising the Aboriginal language roots of Anakie affirms that Country itself is storied, living, and sovereign.
References
Barwick, D. (1998). Rebellion at Coranderrk. Canberra: Aboriginal History Monograph.
Blake, B. (1991). Wathawurrung and the Colac Language of Southern Victoria. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Broome, R. (2005). Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Clark, I.D. (1990). Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900. Melbourne: Monash Publications in Geography.
Clark, I.D. (1995). Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Clarke, P.A. (2008). Aboriginal Healing Practices: Smoke, Fire and Plant Use in South-Eastern Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
DEECA Victoria. (2022). Cultural Burning in Victoria: Policy and Programs. Melbourne: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
Gammage, B. (2011). The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Hamacher, D.W. (2012). “On Aboriginal Astronomy in Victoria.” Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage, 15, pp. 121–134.
Presland, G. (1994). Aboriginal Melbourne: The Lost Land of the Kulin People. Melbourne: Harriland Press.
Reynolds, H. (1987). The Law of the Land. Ringwood: Penguin.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV). (2023). Aboriginal Plant Use and Fire. Melbourne.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (TOAC). (2023). Language and Country Resources. Geelong.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.