Wadawurrung Place Names
Buninyong: Buninyouang — The Man Lying on His Back
Region and Language Group
Buninyong is located on Wadawurrung Country, south of Ballarat, within the Kulin Nation of central Victoria. The Wadawurrung language, also written as Wathaurung, is part of the Kulin language family and was spoken across the coastal and inland plains from Geelong to Ballarat and the You Yangs (Clark 1990; Wadawurrung Traditional Owners 2023).
Buninyong - Buninyouang
The town and mountain of Buninyong, known traditionally as Buninyouang, carry deep cultural meaning. The name translates to “man lying on his back with his knee raised,” referring to the profile of the volcanic hills that rise south of modern Ballarat. For the Wadawurrung, Mount Buninyong was both a geological marker and a spiritual place, visible for many kilometres across the volcanic plains. Its rounded form, ancient crater, and fertile slopes made it a gathering site for ceremony, orientation, and resource sharing (Clark & Heydon 2002).
Country and the Mountain
Mount Buninyong is an extinct volcano that last erupted over two million years ago, part of the Western Victorian Volcanic Plains, one of the largest basaltic regions on Earth (Joyce 2010). Rising 745 metres above sea level, it served as a lookout point, water source, and signal location for the Wadawurrung. Its slopes supported diverse life — wallabies, kangaroos, eels, birds, and edible plants like murnong (yam daisy) — and freshwater flowed from its creeks toward the Yarrowee and Leigh rivers (Clark 1990).
In cultural geography, Buninyouang was a law place, associated with ancestral presence and Dreaming stories that explained the shapes of the land and sky. The “man lying on his back” symbolised balance and rest — a guardian watching over the surrounding plains (Wadawurrung Traditional Owners 2023).
Spiritual Significance and Story
Mount Buninyong was one of several elevated sites that connected the Wadawurrung to the cosmos. It was a reference point in seasonal movement, guiding clans between the high volcanic country and the coastal plains. Fire was often lit on its summit to signal across Country — a system of communication shared by Kulin neighbours (Howitt 1904).
Local stories tell of the spirit of the mountain, said to sleep beneath its slopes. When lightning struck the peak, elders would say it was the spirit waking to warn people of imbalance or neglect toward Country. These stories reflect a scientific and spiritual awareness — an understanding of how thunder, water, and volcanic rock connect life across the landscape (Atkinson 2002).
Colonisation and Early Contact
European intrusion into Buninyong Country began in the late 1830s. William Cross Yuille and Henry Anderson established the first squatting runs near the mountain in 1838, only three years after John Batman’s Port Phillip expeditions (Boyce 2011). The fertile volcanic soil drew rapid settlement, displacing Wadawurrung families and disrupting traditional food systems.
By 1841, gold prospectors and pastoralists had transformed the area, and the Buninyong township became a gateway to the Ballarat diggings. Frontier conflicts were frequent. Historical sources record that Henry Batman, brother of John Batman, led or was involved in several violent incidents across Wadawurrung Country during this period, including near Werribee and westward toward the Leigh and Yarrowee Rivers (Clark 1995). Oral histories suggest that Wadawurrung families retreated toward Mount Buninyong and Lake Burrumbeet during these years to avoid reprisals and continue cultural practice (Cahir 2012).
Geology, Fire, and Memory
Mount Buninyong’s volcanic origins made it both fertile and sacred. Its basalt layers stored groundwater and minerals that fed surrounding wetlands, while the cone and crater formed natural amphitheatres for ceremony. Traditional burning practices — cool fires used to renew grasslands and encourage murnong growth — were common on the lower slopes before colonisation (Pascoe 2014).
European farming disrupted these cycles through grazing, tree clearing, and fire suppression, altering both the ecology and the spiritual landscape. Yet the mountain remained a point of cultural resilience. Today, Buninyouang continues to be recognised by Wadawurrung custodians as a spiritual and ecological anchor, part of Country’s living memory.
Modern Restoration and Cultural Renewal
In recent decades, Mount Buninyong has been protected as a public reserve, with ongoing collaboration between the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, City of Ballarat, and conservation groups. Cultural heritage assessments have recorded artefacts, scarred trees, and ancient camp areas on the mountain’s flanks (Wadawurrung Traditional Owners 2023).
Community programs now use the site for education, language revival, and cultural burning, reconnecting local residents to the true history of Buninyong. Through these acts of renewal, the mountain’s story — the man lying on his back — continues to rest, watch, and guide.
Conclusion
Buninyong / Buninyouang stands as both landscape and ancestor. From its volcanic creation to its role in guiding the Wadawurrung across Country, it embodies the deep union of geology, culture, and spirit. Though the scars of colonisation remain, the mountain’s presence endures — a reminder that Country is alive, and that each contour of land carries language, law, and belonging.
References
Atkinson, J. (2002) Trauma Trails: Recreating Songlines – The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. Spinifex Press.
Barwick, D. (1984) ‘Mapping the Past: An Atlas of Victorian Aboriginal Clans’, Aboriginal History Journal, 8(1), pp. 100–131.
Boyce, J. (2011) 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia. Black Inc.
Cahir, F. (2012) Black Gold: Aboriginal People on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850–1870. ANU Press.
Clark, I. D. (1990) Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900. Monash Publications.
Clark, I. D. (1995) Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859. Aboriginal Studies Press.
Clark, I. D. and Heydon, T. (2002) The Confluence of the Werribee and the Lerderderg: An Environmental and Historical Study. Heritage Council of Victoria.
Howitt, A. W. (1904) The Native Tribes of South-East Australia. Macmillan.
Joyce, E. (2010) Volcanoes in Victoria. Geological Society of Australia, Victorian Division.
Pascoe, B. (2014) Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture. Magabala Books.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (2023) Wadawurrung Country and the Volcanic Plains: Cultural Heritage and Caring for Country. Ballarat.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 September 2025)
MLA
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land, and community.
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledges 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 respect 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 their respective communities.