The Winda Mara partnership – partners with Alcoa since 2002
       
Over many thousand of years, Gunditjmara people developed a settled society in the far southwest of Victoria. They enhanced their society by engineering a traditional eel aquaculture system at Lake Condah and along the Mt Eccles lava flow and wetlands.


The Gunditjmara society proved to be unique in Aboriginal Australia.

The Lake Condah Sustainable Development Project (LCSDP) was launched in 2002 as an initiative of the Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation.


The project’s major goal is to develop the Lake Condah landscape as a major heritage park and provide an impetus of sustainable development for the district over a 25 year period.


Using the principles of sustainable development, the Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation has engaged with neighbouring landholders, local, state and federal governments (including the Glenelg Shire), environment and heritage groups, and industry and education institutions to develop and implement the LCSDP Master Plan.


Contributions from Portland Aluminium, the Alcoa Foundation, the Indigenous Land Corporation and the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority have assisted with support for the project which is ran by a designated project management team, based in Heywood, Victoria.


Having achieved National Heritage recognition in 2006, and the return of the lake to the indigenous people from the Victorian Government in 2008, the LCSDP now focuses on the restoration of Lake Condah (by the end of 2008), gaining World Heritage recognition for the natural and cultural values of the Lake Condah/Tyrendarra area, and the development of a local learning and knowledge centre (by end 2011) will create the building blocks for the envisaged benefits for the far southwest Victorian indigenous and non-indigenous communities.


The ongoing commitment of Portland Aluminium (both financially and in-kind, and the Alcoa Foundation provides a critical independence for the LCSDP. 


The strategic use of the financial contribution has greatly enhanced the relationships, capacities and mutual understandings between the LCSDP partners and participants. 


Due to this core strength, the LCSDP has attracted approximately $6.5M of direct government investment to its goals, activities and achievement since 2002.


As it continues to reach the goals outlined in the Master Plan, the LCSDP will provide ongoing prosperity and employment for people living in the far south west of Victoria while ensuring the high value of the cultural and historic heritage and the environment’s biodiversity.

For further information on the Winda Mara Foundation click here .