The volcanic Lake Bullen Merri is in Victoria, Australia, cloverleafed in shape. A little over two and a half kilometers across. Swimming here, Stanley Ulijaszek was struck by its deep history, and the history of the aboriginal Djargurd Wurrung peoples here, who were resettled in the late nineteenth century. There is a distressing swimming story here, involving the female leader of these people, Queen Fanny, the name given to her by the Europeans; real name Bareetch Chuurneen. There was a massacre at Lake Bullen Merri in 1839, and Bareetch Chuurneen got away, swimmingacross Lake Bullen Merri with the young child clinging to her back, in the night, not knowing if there would be death on the other side. This podcast is the story of Stanley’s small swim here, and the heroic swim of Bareetch Churneen back in the days of European settlement of Australia. Interval music ‘Bullen Merri’ by Tony Forbes.
