Australia is such an ancient land, with rocks billions of years old and once gigantic mountains reduced to puny peaks by millions of years of erosion, that it can be a great surprise to learn of recent volcanic activity on its eastern shores. There are many remnants of this activity from Queensland to Victoria, some of which occurred only a few thousand years ago – just yesterday in geological time.
One particularly beautiful dormant volcano is Tower Hill, in western Victoria. It is located just off the Princes Highway between Warrnambool and Port Fairy, so it is hard to miss for the tourist of this area. Right on the northern edge of the volcano lies Koroit, a pleasant little town with an interesting history dating back from the 1850s.
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| The first view over Tower Hill when entering the reserve from the Princes Highway. |
Tower Hill is actually a series of volcanoes (~40!) within a more or less circular area. These erupted over some 20,000 years, the last eruption taking place only about 3000 years ago, i.e. just yesterday geologically. The Aboriginal people of the district would have witnessed the latest period of activity. In fact the name Koroit might be derived from the local aboriginal word for volcanic activity or volcano. The Worn Gundidj Aboriginal Cooperative, who runs the discreet tourist centre within the reserve together with Parks Victoria, provides an interesting leaflet on the history of Tower Hill and Aboriginal words associated with it. I wouldn't mind one of those words replacing Tower Hill, a rather uninspired choice...
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| View of the Southern Ocean from just below the top of Peak Climb, one of the walks in the reserve. The entrance to the park is on the far left of the picture. |
The volcano is of the nested maar type, which means it resulted from the explosive encounter between magma and underground water. Very little lava flows from such volcanoes. However some did in Tower Hill, as attested by the lava tongue still visible today. It now looks like a long wall whose rocks have crumbled over centuries.
Given that the last period of activity is only a few thousands of years ago, Tower Hill is regarded as dormant, not extinct. I wonder whether there is a way to map the depth of magma below the surface, or at least monitor its activity such as via seismographs? I am always amazed at how little we know about what is below our feet...
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| Wildlife was reintroduced progressively over the last few decades. The reserve is a great spot to see emus, koalas and all kinds of marsupials. Watch out for your lunch or a cheeky emu will steal it, as happened to us! This particular creature also went for the wallet... |
Tower Hill can be driven through (at 10km/h only please!) or walked. The Parks Victoria website provides a good
map of the marked walks of the reserve. All of these are quite easy even for a small child. I even saw someone with a stroller entering the Lava Tongue boardwalk!
In December 2017 we had perfect weather that followed a couple of years of good rains. The vegetation was lush and the lakes showed wonderful shades of blue and green.
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| The lake inside the last volcano, viewed facing north from its steep rim. This is part of the walk "Journey to the Last Volcano" in the reserve, which was my highlight. This volcano would have erupted some 3000 years ago only. It is difficult to get an idea of the scale from this picture, but it is a rather deep crater. The path around it is wide enough to feel safe (~5 metres) but I couldn't help feeling dizzy... |
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| View south towards Tower Hill Lake and the sea, when walking down the Last Volcano. This is a beautiful spot. |
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| Panorama from the Von Guérard Lookout, on the road to Koroit on the eastern rim of Tower Hill. Despite decades of conservation and good rains allowing considerable regrowth of vegetation in the reserve, it is still not what it used to be before the early settlers allowed grazing. Check out the painting by Von Guérard (next picture). |
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| Tower Hill painted by Eugene von Guérard in 1855, just before destruction of the vegetation through farming. This picture is courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria. More information can be found here. |
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| Sunset from the von Guérard lookout. Goodbye Tower Hill and Koroit! |
