Wadawurrung Place Names
Lake Modewarre — Mudowarre: The Healing Waters
Region and Language Group
Lake Modewarre, located near Mount Moriac southwest of Geelong, lies within Wadawurrung Country, one of the five nations of the Kulin Confederacy.
The word Modewarre (also recorded as Mudowarre or Moodoowarre) is derived from Wadawurrung language, and is often translated as “healing water”, “muddy lake,” or “place of medicines”, depending on context (Blake 1991; Clark 1990).
The name captures the lake’s dual nature — a body of mud-rich, mineral water with known healing and ceremonial properties, surrounded by fertile volcanic soils and reed beds. Together with Mount Moriac (Mori-yak) and the Barwon River, it forms part of a connected cultural landscape of volcanic plains, wetlands, and law grounds.
Lake Modewarre
Long before European settlement, Lake Modewarre was a vital cultural, ecological, and spiritual site for the Wadawurrung people. Fed by natural springs and rainfall from the surrounding basalt plains, the lake was a seasonal gathering place where clans camped, fished, and performed healing ceremonies.
Its waters were known for their restorative qualities, attributed to the minerals that seeped from volcanic rock. The area around the lake was also used for ceremonial bathing, initiation, and social gatherings during periods of abundance.
Today, Modewarre remains a place of renewal — its name a reminder that water is not only a source of life, but of healing and spiritual balance.
Meaning and Significance of Modewarre
The Wadawurrung word “Mudowarre” carries layered meanings. Linguists and oral histories suggest translations such as:
“Mud-water place”, referring to the rich mineral muds and wetlands (Clark & Heydon 2002).
“Healing water”, denoting the curative use of clays and springs.
“Lake of the spirits”, in reference to its use as a ritual cleansing site.
In Wadawurrung cultural law, water is a living being, embodying both physical and spiritual renewal. The lake’s soft muds and warm shallows were considered medicine for the body and soul, used in both everyday and ceremonial contexts (Wadawurrung Traditional Owners 2023).
Country and Ecology: A Volcanic Wetland
Lake Modewarre lies within the Victorian Volcanic Plains, a landscape shaped by eruptions over the last two million years. These plains created a chain of crater lakes — including Modewarre, Colac, Coragulac, and Bolac — interconnected through underground aquifers and runoff to the Barwon River system (Boyce 2011).
Before colonisation, Modewarre was part of an ecological mosaic of wetlands, grasslands, and woodlands, supporting:
Eels (kooyang), perch, and blackfish caught in woven traps.
Waterbirds such as swans (kunuwarra), ducks, and herons, providing food and feathers.
Reeds and rushes, used for weaving and lining shelters.
Medicinal plants, including old man weed (Centipeda sp.) and mud-growing bulrush used in healing salves.
Seasonal flooding brought nutrients that renewed the land — an expression of the law of balance: what the land gives must be respected and returned (Broome 2005).
Cultural and Ceremonial Life at Modewarre
Modewarre was known as a camping and ceremonial site where groups gathered to trade, rest, and conduct healing rites. Elders have described the area as a “cooling place”, where people came to recover from illness or spiritual imbalance.
Ceremonies at Modewarre often followed events at nearby Mount Moriac (Mori-yak) or the Barwon River (Barwun), forming part of a broader network of sacred water sites (Wadawurrung Traditional Owners 2023).
Here, the connection between fire and water was celebrated — volcanic stone symbolising Bunjil’s creative energy, and the lake representing cleansing and renewal. Healing muds were used for:
Ritual body painting during ceremony.
Protective coatings for skin during fire or hunting preparation.
Medicinal poultices to soothe wounds and fevers.
These practices illustrate how Wadawurrung science and spirituality were interwoven with ecological observation.
Colonial Disruption and Land Change
Pastoral Settlement
European occupation of the Modewarre plains began in the late 1830s, with squatters such as Thomas Roadknight and Thomas Austin establishing runs around the lake (Clark 1990). As in much of Wadawurrung Country, settlement brought rapid ecological decline:
Stock grazing eroded lake edges and destroyed native plants.
Timber clearing for firewood altered drainage and shade.
Fencing restricted access to traditional camping grounds and ceremony sites.
Diseases and violence from the frontier period devastated Wadawurrung communities.
Hydrological Alteration
By the 1860s, attempts were made to drain and control the lake for farming. Channels were dug to lower water levels, altering the natural flood-recharge cycle. Later, recreational use for boating and fishing further changed the shoreline, replacing cultural use with colonial leisure (Boyce 2011).
For Wadawurrung people, these intrusions represented not only environmental loss but spiritual severance — a disruption of the lake’s healing law and the relationships that sustained it.
Cultural Survival and Renewal
Despite colonisation, memory of Modewarre as a healing lake endured in oral histories and local storylines. Families maintained quiet connections, visiting the lake to gather reeds and teach young people about water, spirit, and care for Country.
Today, Modewarre has re-emerged as an important focus of cultural and ecological restoration:
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (WTOAC) works with land and water agencies to protect remaining cultural sites.
Language and place-name projects have reinstated the original form Mudowarre.
Revegetation programs reintroduce native wetland plants and stabilise erosion.
Cultural education programs teach local schools about the meaning of the lake’s name — that water can heal, if cared for properly.
These initiatives align with broader Wadawurrung principles of murrnong (sustainability) and ngubitj (balance) — honouring the interdependence of people and environment.
The Lake Today: Healing Country and Community
Modern Lake Modewarre is a shallow, brackish lake popular for fishing and recreation. Yet beneath this public identity lies a deeper story. For the Wadawurrung, Modewarre remains sacred Country — a place of healing and cultural teaching.
The lake now forms part of Catchment Management Authority restoration projects, guided by Wadawurrung cultural protocols. Community events include on-Country healing walks, ceremonies of respect for water, and the teaching of the Bunjil creation stories that link the lake to the volcanic mountains and the Barwon River.
Each of these acts renews the lake’s original purpose — as a resting, cleansing, and healing place, living again through the voices of its Traditional Custodians.
Conclusion
Lake Modewarre (Mudowarre) embodies the spirit of renewal on Wadawurrung Country. Once a place of ceremony, rest, and healing, it witnessed deep change through colonisation — yet its name and essence endure.
To speak Modewarre today is to acknowledge the wisdom embedded in its waters: that health, like Country, is cyclical; that true healing flows from respect for land, law, and community.
Its story reminds all who visit that the land itself remembers — and that water, even when disturbed, still holds the power to restore.
References
Blake, B. (1991) Wathawurrung and the Colac Language of Southern Victoria. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Boyce, J. (2011) 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia. Melbourne: Black Inc.
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. & Heydon, T. (2002) Dictionary of Aboriginal Placenames of Victoria. Melbourne: Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (2023) Modewarre Cultural Values and Healing Country Plan. Geelong: WTOAC.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 September 2025)
MLA
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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.