Restoring the volcanic cones of the upper Merri
03rd May 2026
By Luisa Macmillan, FoMC committee member
I recently came across a wonderful 1853 description of a volcano near Beveridge, probably Mt Fraser, courtesy of the Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands Inc.
Anyone who has driven up the Hume Highway from Melbourne, or travelled by train across the plains of the upper Merri, can't help but notice the distinctive volcanic cones of this landscape. Bald Hill, north of Kalkallo, Mt Fraser in Beveridge, nearby Spring Hill to the west of Mt Fraser and Green Hill in Wallan are striking features of the Merri Merri landscape.
Image credit: Looking south from Green Hill in Wallan towards Mt Fraser, 4 April 2020, photo by Rob Eldridge
I’m certainly a fan of these volcanic cones. A former RMIT colleague of mine still likes to recall an event 40 years ago when I abruptly pulled off to the side of the Hume Highway with a minibus full of students. I was the driver. I got everyone off the bus and started waving my arms, declaiming the wonders of nearby Mt Fraser and explaining the interplay of volcanic activity that’s shaped the Merri catchment.
Two of these volcanic cones — Mt Fraser and Spring Hill — form an integral part of the proposed wallan wallan Regional Parkland. Green Hill, just to the north, is already public land. With a connection to the south, it could provide an excellent link for Wallan residents to the Parklands. Bald Hill, slightly to the south, is already identified as part of the marram baba Merri Creek Regional Parklands. A masterplan for the cone is being prepared by Mitchell Shire Council.
Image credit: Looking south towards Mt Fraser, Bald Hill to the left, 22 April 2020, photo by Rob Eldridge
For thousands of years, before the northern rail-line and the Hume Highway existed, the Wurundjeri people cared for these distinctive volcanic hills and the surrounding landscape, including the valleys of the Merri and Kalkallo Creeks that run south towards Melbourne. Unlike more western parts of Victoria, First Nations people did not witness the eruption of the Merri volcanoes. The production of the lava, which filled the ancestral valley of the Merri Merri, occurred from 4.6 million years to 0.81 million years ago, well before people entered the landscape.
Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands have described the pre-1835 vegetation of the volcanic cones in Victoria as distinctive and beautiful, differing from the more familiar Eucalyptus woodlands and open grasslands of surrounding areas. Today, almost none of this original vegetation remains in situ. Fortunately, we have an important historical description from the writer, William Howitt. In 1853, he climbed a volcano near Beveridge, probably Mt Fraser, and described his experience:
“…very curiously the ordinary forest trees, the Eucalypti, grew only to a certain height on its sides. Thence, at a well-defined line, it rose up green and clear except for a few Shiock [Sheoak] trees.”
“I went… through a wood of Banksia trees, which, as well as she-oak, particularly affect volcanic soil; the dogs in continual excitement with the noises of vast numbers of parrots, parroquets, and wattle-birds, which were feasting on the honey of the Banksia flowers.” 1.
Image credits: left, Upper Merri form of Rough-barked Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) on stony knoll, Merriang, photo by Chris Geary;
right, planted Drooping sheoak, (Allocasuarina verticillata) woodland, near Bababi Djinanang, Fawkner, photo by Luisa Macmillan
Other trees and shrubs that are thought to have complemented the Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata) and Drooping sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) are Sweet bursaria (Bursaria spinosa), Black wattle (Acacia mearnsii), Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), Tree violet (Melicytis dentatus) and Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis). Tantalisingly, remnants, mostly smaller groundstorey plants, still persist in a few spots on some of the volcanic cones.
Image credits: left, Tree violet, (Melicytus dentatus), photo by MCMC;
right, Sweet bursaria, (Bursaria spinosa) with Fiddler beetles, (Eupoecila australasiae), photo by MCMC/Brian Bainbridge.
These plants and the animals they supported — honeyeaters and parrots, nectar-feeding small mammals, such as sugar gliders – have been lost from our volcanic cones for more than 150 years. The marram baba and wallan wallan Parklands now provide a unique opportunity to bring the ecology of the Merri volcanic cones back to life. Imagine walking through the liveliness of re-established Sheoak and Banksia woodlands on the slopes of the Merri volcanic cones and emerging into clear grassy areas commanding astounding views over the grasslands, wetlands and waterways of the Parklands and the burgeoning suburbs of the upper Merri.
Friends of Merri Creek thank the Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands for their advocacy to reinstate the vegetation of Bald Hill. (See box below).
We believe this restoration vision should be extended to all the volcanic cones of the upper Merri.
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Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands advocate the following actions in support of the Bald Hill to Merri Creek Master Plan:
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Image credit: Planted Silver banksia (Banksia marginata) with planted Drooping sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) woodland,
in the background near Merri Creek at Bababi Djinanang, Fawkner, photo by Luisa Macmillan
You can discover more about the geological history of the Merri here:
Sites of Geological Significance Chapter 2 - Merri Creek Management Committee
Merri Creek virtual tour introduction: geography.
1. Howitt, William (1858) Land, labour, and gold; or, Two years in Victoria. With visits to Sydney and Van Diemen's Land. 2nd edition, vol 1. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, London. Chapt XVII, p.215. Available online through the Hathi Trust.