All of the protected areas are related to the volcanic landscape created by the eruption of Budj Bim (Mount Eccles) more than 30,000 years ago, and the extinct volcano is included in the National Heritage and World Heritage sites (which also include Budj Bim National Park). The various areas are of great historic and cultural significance to various clans of the Gunditjmara, the local Aboriginal people: Budj Bim features in their mythology as a creator-being, and the Gunditjmara people developed an extensive system of aquaculture on the land created by the lava flows up to 8,000 years ago. Tae Rak (Lake Condah) forms part of the wetlands, and its English name is remembered for the Lake Condah Mission which was established a few kilometres away in 1867.