Paul Daley, novelist, historian and Guardian Australia columnist:

"The story of Lake Boort, told by Bill Code with compelling insight, is complex and multi-layered. First, it reaches backwards through tens of thousands of years of Dja Dja Wurrung custodianship. But in a time when the gulf between Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people seems to be widening, it also resonates today through the shared efforts between black and white Australians to preserve and protect remarkable natural and cultural heritage. There is a more recent shared history, too, that unfolded around the sacred scar trees and the middens - one of land dispossession and of the theft of precious cultural artefacts. Gary Murray, among the most remarkable activists of his generation and central to the story of then and now, is central to efforts to reconcile the wrongs of the past."

Katharine Catelloti, Ecological Researcher:

"Perhaps no Australian tree is as iconic as the river red gum but remaining forests of these beautiful and ecologically significant eucalypts are under threat. River red gums stand amidst a struggle between the ever increasing demands for water by large scale agricultural industry and environmental conservation. The riparian habitats of river red gums are increasingly not receiving the water they need, while also facing pressures of logging and habitat removal. These trees can live for many hundreds of years and their presence is vital to the aquatic ecology and animals that are so unique and precious in the arid landscape of Australia. A large network of Australian scientists continue to work to highlight the precarious situation faced by river red gum flood plains and I am thrilled to know that a film which touches on both their environmental and cultural/historical significance can highlight the importance of looking after these icons of the Australian interior."

Andy Long, archaeologist and leading scarred tree expert:

"The Boort scarred trees are extremely important as a group, given their density, number and diversity of type, including exceptional surviving examples of bark removal and toe hold scars. They provide perhaps the only remaining opportunity for the study and protection of a traditional Aboriginal landscape through timber and trees."

Photographer Rodney Dekker came along and got some great pics in the bag; 

You can see the rest here on the 'gallery' tab.

There have been few Yung Balug/Dja Dja Wurrung people living in Boort in recent years. Clan member Gary Murray has been able to work constructively with Paul Haw, who lives on the lake, for many years now.

Now, in late 2016, Yung Balug clan member Jida Gulpilil has returned to live on the lake with his young family. Gulpilil plans to spend part of the year living on his father David's Yolngu country in the Top End, and part of it on his mother's Dja Dja Wurrung country here in Victoria. He's received a grant to establish cultural tours to share his knowledge, and with the lake filled once more with water, Jida is starting boat tours of school children and others around the lake to see the trees, middens and other cultural sites. We're thrilled he's agreed to be involved with the film.