The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape project received a total of four major awards at Interpretation Australia's annual conference and National Awards for Excellence event last Thursday 9 November in Sydney.  

​The awards included the top overarching grand prize. They were in the categories of:
• First Nations Interpretation Project
• Interpretation Planning and Design
• Interpretation Project – Outdoors over $75k
• Interpretation Australia 2023 Medal – the grand prize across all categories.
 
Check the Interpretation Australia website for the full details of the awards and the judges comments.
 https://interpretationaustralia.asn.au/congratulations-to-our-2023-national-awards-for-excellence/
 
Director, David Huxtable, of LookEar, the interpretive signage company that led the project, said: "This is a really pleasing result and a credit to all who have been involved in the project, and in what was a very detailed submission."

​Em PRESS Publishing principal, Gib Wettenhall, researched and  wrote the bulk of the content for the signage.

Signage and infrastructure at five locations are in place from the Budj Bim National Park & its crater lake, Lake Surprise, to the nearby Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre, which has a walkway out into the lake, a bush food cafe and a tank with live eels. Both these places are free and open to public access. Two other Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) locations, Kurtonitj and Tyrendarra, are only accessible as part of a tour. The south end has a publicly accessible entry station with info panels and BBQs at Tyrendarra township.

Features of the design are the use of rusty steel walkways, charred wood railings and stone walls, aiming to fit in with the landscape. Signs are kept low so as not to impede views.

Two Gunditmara companies are running guided tours. The main one, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape Tours, visits all sites but the Tyrendarra IPA  circuit:– go to Budj Bim Cultural Landscape - Visit Today 
The other company, Budj Bim Tours, has rights to visit Tyrendarra IPA:- go to Heywood | Budj Bim Tours | Windamara

Photos by the author and as supplied by Dave Huxtable, Director, LookEar, heritage interpretation designs, the company responsible for this project. I wrote the bulk of the interpretive signage content.