Ngalawoort Native Plant Nursery
Nursing in Moyne

Tower Hill is a major instinctive landmark on the Princes Highway between Warrnambool and Port Fairy in southwestern Victoria, and many people visit it to enjoy a picnic or walk, to see its wildlife or to scrutinize its geology. As a giant Paar or volcanic explosion crater it is of international and national geological significance. In the premature years of European settlement much of Tower Hill’s natural vegetation was cleared and the land was old for farming and quarrying. In 1892 it became Victoria’s beginning National Park in recognition of its unique features but destructive uses continued. The Fisheries and Wildlife Department developed a planting manipulate using Don Gerard’s detailed painting as a reference, it shows grass and ferns on the island, and tea trees, wattles, she oaks, banksias and eucalypti on the cones with reeds and tussocks in the marshes. Botanists studied the painting to identify plants, and replanting was based on species obvious or believed to have been Indigenous to Tower Hill. Behind the re vegetation movement began and efforts increased to eradicate introduced weeds, plants and animals, native animals were reintroduced to the Reserve. Visitors have a good chance of seeing one of more of these animals any of the walking tracks through the reserve. Its formation is known as a nested Paar and it is the largest example of its type in Victoria. During formation, molten lava pushed its way up through the Earth’s crust and encountered a layer of water bearing rock. Tumultuous explosions followed creating a shallow crater which later occupied with water to form the lake. Further eruptions occurred in the center of this crater, creating the islands and cone shaped hills. Archaeological surveys of the area have uncovered ace heads and other artifacts in the volcanic ash layers and local Aboriginal people would undoubtedly have witnessed the eruptions. The area was a wealthy source of food and shelter for diverse clans of the Gunditjmara Nation including the Koroitgunditj and Peek Whurrong people.