Lake Bolac

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Lake Bolac | state = vic | image = Lake Bolac Shops.JPG | caption = Main street of Lake Bolac | image_alt = | use_lga_map = yes | relief = | coordinates = {{coord|37|42|0|S|142|51|0|E|display=inline,title}} | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_label_position = | map_alt = | pop = 368 | pop_year = {{CensusAU|2021}} | pop_footnotes = <ref name="ABS"/> | poprank = | density = | density_footnotes = | established = | established_footnotes = | abolished = | gazetted = | postcode = 3351 | elevation = | elevation_footnotes = | area = | area_footnotes = | timezone = | utc = | timezone-dst = | utc-dst = | dist1 = 217 | dir1 = W | location1 = Melbourne | dist2 = 91 | dir2 = W | location2 = Ballarat | dist3 = 50 | dir3 = S | location3 = Ararat | dist4 = 47 | dir4 = W | location4 = Skipton | dist5 = 48 | dir5 = E | location5 = Dunkeld | lga = Rural City of Ararat | region = | county = | stategov = Lowan | fedgov = Wannon | url = | maxtemp = | maxtemp_footnotes = | mintemp = | mintemp_footnotes = | rainfall = | rainfall_footnotes = | near-n = | near-ne = | near-e = | near-se = | near-s = | near-sw = | near-w = | near-nw = | near = | footnotes = }} '''Lake Bolac''' is a town in the Western District region of Victoria, Australia. The town is on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the Glenelg Highway passes through the town. At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of 368.

The name derives from ''bulluc'', meaning swamp or lake in the Djab Wurrung language. The traditional owners of the area are the Girai wurrung people.

== History == ===Pre-colonial inhabitation=== Lake Bolac was the northern boundary of the Girai wurrung people's traditional lands, according to Norman Tindale, while large groups of up to 1,000 Djab wurrung and other peoples gathered here for a couple of months during the annual short-finned eel migration.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clark|first=Ian D.|url=http://nationalunitygovernment.org/pdf/2014/IanDClark-Scars_in_the_landscape.pdf.pdf|title=Scars in the Landscape: a register of massacre sites in western Victoria, 1803–1859|publisher=AIATSIS|year=1995|isbn=0-85575-281-5|pages=57–84|author-link=Ian D. Clark (historian)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Mallett |first=Ashley| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYNxyc-yhuwC&pg=PA9|title=The Black Lords of Summer: The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England and Beyond|publisher=University of Queensland Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-702-23262-6|pages=169–175|author-link=Ashley Mallett}}</ref> George Augustus Robinson recorded in 1841 that 800 Aboriginal people had gathered at Lake Bolac – 'Lake Boloke' – to feast on plentiful eels, when "...local tribes numbered only sixty individuals".<ref>Vivienne Rae-Ellis (1988) Black Robinson: Protectors of Aborigines, University of Melbourne Press, Melbourne, p.244</ref>

The name of the lake and thence the town derives from ''bulluc'', meaning swamp or lake in the Djab Wurrung language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Victorian Aboriginal Corporation Languages Djab Wurrung|url=https://www.vacl.org.au/languages/djab-wurrung|access-date=1 June 2021|website=Victorian Aboriginal Corporation Languages}}</ref>

Anthropologist Harry Lourandos noted evidence of semi-permanent settlement near the lake.<ref>{{Cite book| title = Continent of Hunter-Gatherers: New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory | last = Lourandos | first = Harry | year = 1997 | author-link = Harry Lourandos | publisher = Cambridge University Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tTy-I8no1MwC&pg=PA65 | isbn = 978-0-521-35946-7}}</ref>

===European settlement=== Lake Bolac Post Office opened on 1 November 1864.<ref name = "a">{{Citation| last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | access-date = 11 April 2008}}</ref>

=== 2006 tornado === On the night of 19 January 2006, Lake Bolac was hit by what has been described as a "mini-twister". Power lines were torn down; several buildings sustained mild to severe damage, more than 100 trees were uprooted, and eight grain silos were damaged or destroyed. Around 400 residents lost power due to the tornado, and the damage bill was estimated at {{AUD|2m}}.<ref>{{Citation | author= The Ballarat Courier | title = Two million dollars' worth of damage | url = http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/two-million-dollars-worth-of-damage/461148.aspx | date = 21 January 2006| access-date = 16 January 2010}}</ref>

==Location==

Lake Bolac is in the Western District region of Victoria, within the local government area of the Rural City of Ararat, {{convert|91|km|mi}} west of Ballarat. The town is situated on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the Glenelg Highway passes through the town.<ref name=GADistToBallarat>{{cite web|title=Great Circle Distance between LAKE+BOLAC and BALLARAT|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/cocky/cgi/run/distancedraw2?rec1=225819&placename=ballarat&placetype=0&state=VIC&place1=LAKE+BOLAC&place1long=142.839355&place1lat=-37.715321|publisher=Geoscience Australia|access-date=25 January 2013}}</ref>

==Facilities and places of interest==

The Lake Bolac stone arrangement is an Aboriginal ceremonial site near the town, shaped like a giant stone eel.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-lady-of-the-lake-20090101-78k7.html |work=The Age|title=The lady of the lake|first=Martin|last= Flanagan|date=2 January 2009|access-date=20 December 2019}}</ref>

Lake Bolac has a prep to year 12 school.

There is a caravan park on the lake that is popular in summer with holidaying families.

==Recreation== The freshwater lake is popular with anglers.

The football team, in partnership with the nearby town of Wickliffe, competes as the Magpies in the Mininera & District Football League.

The Lake Bolac Golf Club is on Mortlake Road.<ref name = "golf">{{Citation | author= Golf Select | title = Lake Bolac | url = http://www.golfselect.com.au/armchair/courseView.aspx?course_id=1006 | access-date = 11 May 2009}}</ref>

==Demographics== At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of 368.<ref name="ABS">{{Census 2021 AUS|id=SAL21428|name=Lake Bolac (Suburbs and Localities)|accessdate=16 November 2022|quick=on}}</ref>

The language spoken by the traditional owners of the area is Djab Wurrung language.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Victorian Language Corporation for Languages Djab Wurrung|url=https://www.vacl.org.au/languages/djab-wurrung|access-date=1 June 2021|website=Victorian Language Corporation for Languages}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline}}

Category:Towns in Victoria (state) Category:Western District (Victoria)