Sir Doug Nicholls

The Whroo Dam




The Whroo Dam is a large shire dam, situated about 10km west of Ultima and 29km east of Sea Lake on the Sea Lake Road. It was two or three times bigger than the usual dams, which were in place to enable people to water their stock, and for travellers to do likewise, because in the early days of settlement travellers moved about on horseback, in a gig, buggy or wagon, and needed access to water for their animals.





The courage of a few




This story was first published in the Aboriginal Art Directory.

In 1987 the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was announced. I was a young lawyer that had just started work at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS).

In those days it occupied a dilapidated terrace house at the top of Brunswick street. Phil Cooper had just taken over as Executive Director. The Board included Alf Bamblett and John Gorrie.