Tower Hill (volcano)
Encyclopedia
Tower Hill is an inactive volcano on the southwest coast of Victoria
, Australia
. Within the crater the explosion also formed a series of small cones (known as scoria cones) and spheres surrounded by a crater lake
.Tower Hill volcano is roughly 4 km wide and 80 m high. It has a gradient altering between 10% to 80% at the higher points.
The Koroitgundidj people long inhabited this region of Australia and have lived in the area of Tower Hill since before recorded history. The first confirmed sighting of Tower Hill by Europeans was by French explorers sailing with Captain Baudin
aboard Géographe
in 1802. Matthew Flinders
sailed east along the southern coast of Australia and on 20 April 1802 in the ship's log referred to "Peaked Hill Position uncertain", which may refer to Tower Hill.
Now part of the state park system as the Tower Hill State Game Reserve
, it previously saw service as a pasture for stock animals, fields for crop growing, a stone quarrying, an unofficial motorcycle racing venue, a source of free timber, and a convenient community rubbish dump. By the middle of the last century the hills were almost completely denuded and virtually the only wildlife to be found were waterfowl that came to the crater lakes. The area has been reforested with native flora
, and repopulated with native fauna
over the past 40 years.
More than 300,000 native trees have been planted over the past two generations. This has created an environment capable of sustaining native animals such as Koala
s, Emu
s, kangaroo
s, Magpie Geese
, Echidna
s, possum
s, and waterbirds – all of which can be seen within the crater walls of Tower Hill.
Small amounts of gold was found in tower hill lake, and had led to a few suspenseful searches.The towns in tower hill were set up because of this and have now become a tourist destination.
The town of Koroit is on the North rim of Tower Hill which is within easy reach of both Warrnambool and Port Fairy.
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Within the crater the explosion also formed a series of small cones (known as scoria cones) and spheres surrounded by a crater lake
Crater lake
A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not...
.Tower Hill volcano is roughly 4 km wide and 80 m high. It has a gradient altering between 10% to 80% at the higher points.
The Koroitgundidj people long inhabited this region of Australia and have lived in the area of Tower Hill since before recorded history. The first confirmed sighting of Tower Hill by Europeans was by French explorers sailing with Captain Baudin
Nicolas Baudin
Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...
aboard Géographe
French corvette Géographe
The Géographe was a 20-gun Serpente class corvette of the French Navy.She was named Uranie in 1797, and renamed Galatée in 1799, still on her building site, as her builder refused to launched her, as he had not been paid...
in 1802. Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
sailed east along the southern coast of Australia and on 20 April 1802 in the ship's log referred to "Peaked Hill Position uncertain", which may refer to Tower Hill.
Now part of the state park system as the Tower Hill State Game Reserve
Tower Hill State Game Reserve
The Tower Hill State Game Reserve is located in Victoria , 275 km west of Melbourne, and 15 km north-west of Warrnambool. It encompasses the Tower Hill volcano and wetland and is 6.14 km² in area....
, it previously saw service as a pasture for stock animals, fields for crop growing, a stone quarrying, an unofficial motorcycle racing venue, a source of free timber, and a convenient community rubbish dump. By the middle of the last century the hills were almost completely denuded and virtually the only wildlife to be found were waterfowl that came to the crater lakes. The area has been reforested with native flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
, and repopulated with native fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
over the past 40 years.
More than 300,000 native trees have been planted over the past two generations. This has created an environment capable of sustaining native animals such as Koala
Koala
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
s, Emu
Emu
The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
s, kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
s, Magpie Geese
Magpie-goose
The Magpie Goose is a waterbird species found in coastal northern Australia and savannah in southern New Guinea. It is a unique member of the order Anseriformes, and arranged in a family and genus distinct from all other living waterfowl...
, Echidna
Short-beaked Echidna
The short-beaked echidna , also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus...
s, possum
Possum
A possum is any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi .Possums are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long tails...
s, and waterbirds – all of which can be seen within the crater walls of Tower Hill.
Small amounts of gold was found in tower hill lake, and had led to a few suspenseful searches.The towns in tower hill were set up because of this and have now become a tourist destination.
The town of Koroit is on the North rim of Tower Hill which is within easy reach of both Warrnambool and Port Fairy.