MAKING a musical instrument out of eel is just one of the unusual activities in store at the 14th Lake Bolac Eel Festival this March.

Buluk (Lake Bolac), in the Western District of Victoria, is sacred to the First Nations people of the area who would traditionally host a large gathering of clans for the eel season when the eels began their migration from the lake to the sea to spawn.

This time was known as kuyang (eel) season. At Buluk, the Aboriginal clans harvested the eels, traded and held ceremonies, prior to colonial invasion.

While the Lake Bolac Eel Festival we know today attracts people from all walks of life, it began in 2005 when Warumpi Band member Neil Murray (from Lake Bolac), proposed a walk from Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve and Forest, back to the Country from which their ancestors had been…