History of Lake Wendouree

The plaque on the monument opposite Pleasant Street School states, 'Near this spot was the camp of the first resident of Ballarat, William Yuille.' In the autumn of 1938 the young Scotsman drove his flock of sheep to the shores of the reedy swamp which was first known as Black Swamp because it was dark with thickly grown reeds. To the miners it was known as Yuille's Swamp. A squatter's diary of 1850 records that there were many Kooris camped around the swamp and by a little steam that ran down from it. Hundreds of kangeroos and emus fed on the grassy plateau. The name Wendouree comes from the aboriginal word 'Wendaaree' which means 'go away'. A story is told that when William Yuille asked an aboriginal women the name of the swamp, that was her reply. When Ballarat was first surveyed in 1851 by WS Urquhard the swamp was named Wendouree. Lake Wendouree was originally a stream which flowed to the west but a lava flow dammed it on three sides and it now drains to the east, into the Yarrowee River.