The Otway Fly Tree Top Walk - Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia

The first people of the Otway forests were from four groups of Koori people - from the east (Wathaurong), north (Gulidjan), south-west (Gadubanud) and north-west (Girai Wurrung).

The Aboriginal people lived on the fringes of the forest having everything they needed. There was food and shelter along the rivers, coast and grasslands.

Near Gellibrand there are two significant cultural sites. One is an outcrop of dolerite - hard, fine-grained volcanic rock that has been broken into a maze of tumbled pieces. These were chipped into axe “blanks” and then taken to the second place, a gully, where the axes were smoothed and sharpened by rubbing them against sandstone.

Fire was used in the grasslands to flush out small game and encourage new plant growth. There are some parts of the Otway rainforests that have not been burned for more than 1,000 years.

Images courtesy of the Indigenous Collection Department of the Museum Victoria and the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.

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