Country History
Geology, Culture and Sky of Volcanic Ranges on Wadawurrung Country
Victoria is a state defined by stone. Its rocks tell a story spanning over 500 million years, from ancient sedimentary seabeds to fiery volcanic eruptions in the last few thousand years. On Wadawurrung Country, at the heart of the Newer Volcanics Province (NVP), these geological forces created plains, cones, and mountains that became the foundation for ecosystems, food systems, stone-working traditions, and stories of the sky.
How Volcanoes Work
Volcanoes are surface expressions of Earth’s inner heat. Magma generated in the mantle rises through weaknesses in the crust. When gases expand near the surface, eruptions occur (Joyce 2010). In Victoria, eruptions were typically basaltic—fluid, dark lavas that built wide plains rather than tall stratovolcanoes.
Eruption Styles in Victoria
Scoria (cinder) cones: steep-sided hills of frothy volcanic fragments (e.g., Mount Buninyong, Mount Warrenheip).
Lava shields and flows: flat basalt sheets extending tens of kilometres, forming the Victorian Volcanic Plain, the third largest basalt plain in the world (Cas et al. 2017).
Maar craters and tuff rings: broad explosive craters where magma met water (e.g., Tower Hill, Red Rock).
The field is monogenetic: each volcano generally erupts once. Activity began around 8 million years ago and continued into the Holocene. The youngest eruptions (~5,000 years ago) were at Mount Gambier and Mount Schank just over the border, showing the field is dormant but not extinct (Cohen et al. 2017).
The Geology of Victoria: A Mosaic of Rocks
Victoria’s landscapes are shaped by a patchwork of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
Indigneous Rocks
Basalt: The dominant rock of the Newer Volcanics Province, weathering into fertile red and black soils. On Wadawurrung Country, basalt outcrops were used for grinding stones, hearths, and building materials.
Granite: Forms intrusions like the You Yangs (Wurdi Youang), Devonian in age (~365 Ma). Wadawurrung people modified granite boulders to create rock-wells, essential for water storage. Granite also occurs at Mount Alexander, Harcourt, and Wilson’s Promontory.
Dolerite/Greenstone: The Mount William greenstone quarry (on Wurundjeri Country) produced prized stone axe blanks traded across south-eastern Australia (McBryde 1984).
Sedimentary Rocks
Sandstones and shales: Formed from ancient marine deposits of the Palaeozoic, now exposed in the Brisbane Ranges and Otway Ranges.
Limestones: Occur in western Victoria and along the coast, often forming caves (e.g., near Portland and the Otways).
Metamorphic Rocks
Schists and gneiss: Found in the highlands of eastern Victoria and in parts of the Grampians, formed by the transformation of sedimentary rocks under heat and pressure.
Quartzites: Very resistant rocks that create ridges, including in the Grampians (Gariwerd).
Wadawurrung Country in the Volcanic Field
Mount Buninyong (Bonan Youang) — a large scoria cone with visible volcanic deposits.
Mount Warrenheip (Warrengeep) — another cone east of Ballarat.
Anakie Hills/Brisbane Ranges — fault-scarp landscapes of sandstones and shales, contrasting with surrounding basalts.
You Yangs (Wurdi Youang) — granite inselbergs rising from the plain.
These features show the juxtaposition of young basalt plains and older granitic and sedimentary uplands.
Ecosystems, Grasslands and Cultural Practices
The basalt plains supported vast murnong (yam daisy, Microseris spp.) grasslands, cultivated with digging sticks and fire (Gott 2015). Lava flows also created wetlands and lakes, rich in fish and birdlife.
Today, the Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain and Grassy Eucalypt Woodland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain are listed as Critically Endangered (DCCEEW 2021). Wadawurrung-led cultural fire practices are reviving the health of these landscapes (WTOAC 2021).
Stones, Tools and Weapons
Different rocks across Victoria were valued for their properties:
Basalt: grinding stones, hammerstones, hearths.
Greenstone (dolerite): axe-heads, traded widely from Mount William quarry.
Silcrete, quartz, chert: flaked into knives, scrapers, spear tips.
Granite: water-holding rock wells.
Weapons crafted with these materials included boomerangs, clubs (liangle), spears, and shields, shaped and maintained with ground-edge axes (First Peoples – State Relations 2020).
Ceremony, Stars and Story
Wurdi Youang Stone Arrangement — basalt boulders carefully aligned with the equinox and solstice sunsets, a remarkable example of Aboriginal astronomy (Norris et al. 2012).
Bunjil in the Sky — Kulin traditions identify Bunjil, the wedge-tailed eagle creator, with the star Altair (Hamacher 2014).
Waterfalls and volcanic places — such as Lal Lal Falls, important Wadawurrung ceremonial and story sites (Clark & Harradine 1990).
Beyond Wadawurrung: Budj Bim
On Gunditjmara Country, the lava of Budj Bim (Mt Eccles) was engineered into stone channels, ponds and weirs to trap and farm eels. This aquaculture system, listed as a World Heritage site in 2019, demonstrates the deep integration of people, geology and ecosystems (UNESCO 2019).
Conclusion
The volcanoes of Victoria shaped both landscapes and lifeways. Basalt and granite formed the ground beneath Wadawurrung people, supporting grasslands, wetlands, tool-making traditions and stories of Bunjil and the stars. Understanding both the science of rocks and the cultural knowledge of Country reveals the full significance of Victoria’s volcanic lands.
References
Cas, R., Hayman, P. & Van Otterloo, J. 2017, Volcanoes in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Clark, I. & Harradine, L. 1990, The People of the Lakes: The Yuille Occupation of Ballarat, Ballarat Heritage Services, Ballarat.
Cohen, B.E., Knesel, K.M., Vasconcelos, P.M. & Thiede, D.S. 2017, ‘Holocene eruptions of the Newer Volcanics Province, south-eastern Australia’, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 459, pp. 1–13.
DCCEEW (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water) 2021, Natural Temperate Grassland and Grassy Eucalypt Woodland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain: Conservation Advice, Australian Government, Canberra.
First Peoples – State Relations 2020, Stone Quarries and Toolmaking, Victorian Government, Melbourne.
Global Volcanism Program 2021, Newer Volcanics Province, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.
Gott, B. 2015, ‘Aboriginal use of plants in south-eastern Australia’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 127, no. 2, pp. 64–73.
Hamacher, D. 2014, ‘Kulin Cultural Astronomy’, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 182–194.
Joyce, E.B. 2010, The Geomorphology of Victoria, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
McBryde, I. 1984, Kulin Greenstone Quarries: The Social Context of Production and Distribution for the Mt William Site, ANU Press, Canberra.
Norris, R., Hamacher, D. & Morieson, J. 2012, ‘Wurdi Youang: an Aboriginal stone arrangement with possible solar indications’, Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 90–98.
Parks Victoria 2021, You Yangs Regional Park Management Plan, Victorian Government, Melbourne.
UNESCO 2019, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape: World Heritage Listing, UNESCO, Paris.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (WTOAC) 2021, Cultural Fire Strategy for Wadawurrung Country, Geelong.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
Copyright of MLA – 2025
Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.