Wadawurrung Place Names
The Wadawurrung Waterways: The Barwon, Moorabool, and Connewarre Systems — History, Country, and Cultural Ecology
MLA Educational Series — Country, Water, and Cultural Systems
Flowing from the Otway Ranges, the volcanic uplands of Ballarat, and the Moorabool and Leigh valleys, the waterways of Wadawurrung Country form a vast living network of story, sustenance, and spirit. The Barwon River, Lake Connewarre, and the Moorabool system connect mountains, plains, and sea — the lifeblood of the Country. For tens of thousands of years, Wadawurrung people lived, travelled, and held ceremony along these rivers, creeks, and wetlands.
These were not simply sources of water: they were living ancestors, carrying the law of Country. Every spring, eel trap, and waterfall marked a place of belonging. Even today, the sound of the Barwon and Moorabool waters reminds us that this landscape is ancient, storied, and alive.
The Ancestral Rivers of Wadawurrung Country
The Barwon River (Parwan) and the Moorabool River (Mooroobull Yulluk) define the heart of Wadawurrung Country. The Barwon flows east from the Otways through Geelong and into the wetlands of Lake Connewarre (Kunuwarra), joining tidal inlets that reach the Bellarine Peninsula and Bass Strait. Its major tributary, the Moorabool, rises north of Ballarat and flows south through Lal Lal Falls and Batesford Gorge before merging with the Barwon near Fyansford. Together, they form one of Victoria’s most complex and culturally significant river systems.
In Wadawurrung oral traditions, these rivers are spirit-beings who carved the landscape during the Dreaming. The falls, pools, and bends were their resting places. The sound of falling water at Lal Lal Falls — known to the Wadawurrung as a women’s place of ceremony — is said to echo the voices of ancestors and the cleansing of spirit (WTOAC, 2023).
Meanings of Names and Places
The name Barwon derives from parwan or barwon, meaning “great wide river” (Clark, 1990). Moorabool comes from moorabool yulluk, meaning “monster fish river” — perhaps recalling the giant eels and fish that once swam through its deep rock pools (Blake, 1991). Lake Connewarre, or Kunuwarra, means “black swan,” one of the most sacred totems of the Wadawurrung. These names carry stories of water as life and law — not just descriptions of geography, but of identity and kinship.
Waterways and Cultural Systems
Barwon–Moorabool–Connewarre Network
This connected system of rivers, wetlands, and coastal estuaries once sustained an extraordinary abundance of life. Wadawurrung people fished, hunted, and gathered here according to strict cultural protocols:
Eel harvesting (kooyang) from stone weirs and woven traps.
Fish nets made from reeds and rushes at Batesford and Connewarre.
Seasonal migrations along the riverbanks following the spawning and bird nesting cycles.
At Reedy Lake, Hospital Swamp, and Lake Connewarre, black swans, pelicans, and ducks once formed immense colonies. The Wadawurrung harvested eggs and feathers with ceremony, ensuring balance and renewal (Gott & Zola, 1992).
Moorabool River and Lal Lal Falls
The Moorabool River and Lal Lal Falls (near Ballarat) were sacred places associated with women’s business, healing, and initiation. Oral histories describe the falls as a boundary between clans and a ceremonial ground where songs were sung to the water spirit (Presland, 1994). The deep gorge below Batesford was a fishing and camping ground, where waterholes were carefully maintained and wells dug into limestone to access fresh groundwater during dry seasons.
Leigh River and Yarrowee Creek
The Leigh (Waywurru) River and Yarrowee Creek form the northern arms of the system, flowing from the volcanic plains of Ballarat into the Barwon. These waterways connected inland camps and food grounds to the coastal wetlands. The basaltic soils supported yam daisy (murnong) cultivation, while creeks provided mussels, yabbies, and reeds for weaving.
Springs and Wells of Modewarre and Torquay
Around Lake Modewarre and Spring Creek (Torquay), freshwater springs bubbled through limestone. Buckley described Wadawurrung people maintaining these springs with stone linings, keeping them clean for drinking and ceremony (Morgan, 1852). These wells were essential engineering feats — living examples of deep-time water management.
Water Stories and Ceremony
Waterways were places of spiritual exchange. Along the Barwon and Moorabool, tanderrum ceremonies allowed visiting clans to cross into another’s Country under the law of respect and hospitality (Barwick, 1984). The black swan (kunuwarra) symbolised peace and renewal — its feathers used in dance and ritual. The eel (kooyang) represented transformation and resilience, appearing in both creation stories and seasonal calendars.
Colonisation, Damage, and Survival
From the 1830s, squatters and settlers drastically changed these river systems. The Barwon and Moorabool were polluted by grazing and mining, wetlands drained for agriculture, and sacred falls fenced off. Yam daisy fields vanished, and many Wadawurrung were displaced to missions at Narre Narre Warren, Framlingham, and Coranderrk (Broome, 2005). By the late 19th century, extensive river diversions and damming (e.g., Lal Lal Reservoir, 1860s) altered water flows, silencing many ancient wetlands. Yet the waterways remained powerful sites of memory. Even when access was denied, stories continued to be told in secret, and the rivers held their knowledge beneath the surface.
Ecology, Ramsar Recognition, and Restoration
Today, the Barwon–Connewarre wetland complex is recognised under the Ramsar Convention as internationally significant. Together with the Moorabool system, these waters provide habitat for migratory birds, estuarine fish, and remnant reedbeds. Restoration programs now aim to reconnect the cultural and ecological systems long fractured by colonisation.
The Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (WTOAC) leads projects to:
Reintroduce cultural burning and wetland management.
Protect and interpret sacred sites at Lal Lal Falls and Batesford.
Revive eel-fishing practices and water ceremonies.
Embed Wadawurrung language and stories in place-based education.
Through these efforts, the rivers are once again being recognised as living beings — part of Country’s renewal and truth-telling.
Conclusion
The Barwon, Moorabool, Leigh, and Yarrowee Rivers, the lakes of Modewarre and Connewarre, and the springs and waterfalls of Wadawurrung Country form an ancient hydrological and cultural system — a network that sustained not only ecosystems but entire civilisations of spirit, kinship, and ecological wisdom. These waterways tell of law, generosity, and survival. Though scarred by colonisation, they remain teachers: reminding all who listen that water is Country’s voice — connecting past, present, and future in one flowing story of life.
References
Barwick, D. (1984). Mapping the Past: An Atlas of Victorian Aboriginal Clans. Melbourne: La Trobe University Press.
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 University.
Clark, I.D. (1995). Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
DEECA Victoria. (2022). Cultural Burning in Victoria: Policy and Programs. Melbourne: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
Gott, B. & Zola, N. (1992). Koorie Plants, Koorie People: Traditional Aboriginal Food, Fibre and Healing Plants of Victoria. Melbourne: Koorie Heritage Trust.
Morgan, J. (1852). The Life and Adventures of William Buckley. Hobart: Archibald MacDougall.
Presland, G. (1994). Aboriginal Melbourne: The Lost Land of the Kulin People. Melbourne: Harriland Press.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (WTOAC). (2023). Our Country, Our Heritage. Geelong: WTOAC.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (22 September 2025)
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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.