Indigenous Bush Walk in extinct VolcanoTower Hill, Victoria

Experience the Australian bush, incredible landscapes and native animals with an Indigenous guide on the Worn Gundidj & Tower Hill tour.

Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve in the heart of the spectacular Great Ocean Road region is the only wildlife reserve west of the popular Twelve Apostles. The reserve, near the town of Warrnambool sits inside a dormant volcano that has an 11-kilometer crater rim, with cones that rise from a lakebed in a formation created by a series of volcanic eruptions and events over thousands of years.

The area is now home to many of Australia’s native wildlife, giving visitors a rare opportunity to see animals including emus, koalas, kangaroos, echidnas, possums and sugar gliders and wedge-tail eagles up close. 

A visit to Tower Hill, a major natural landmark on the Princes Highway, is a deep immersion in cultural history. Artefacts show Aboriginal people have lived in the area for at least 30,000 years, back to the days when violent volcanic explosions reshaped the landscape.

Today, the local Aboriginal cooperative, WG Enterprises, organise walking tours that offer an insight to Aboriginal culture. The 90-minute walking tours, led by members of the Gunditjmara Nation, offer visitors the opportunity to learn about the area’s histories, its geology, and Aboriginal era and European settlement. Walks are personalised to interests and may examine artefacts from axe handles, to possum cloaks, didgeridoo performances, and foraging for local bush foods.

Visitors will gain an understanding of traditional Aboriginal lifestyles and learn how to identify native plants for food and medicine. On the evening walk, explore bush tucker, and as night closes in, see some of the nocturnal animals that hide during the day.

get there

Tours depart from the Visitor Centre at 11:00am and 1:00pm daily.

price guide

Personalised bush walk, Adults AUD$35, child $11.50, family $85.

contact

Worn Gundidj @ Tower Hill
www.towerhill.org.au 

need to know

This experience is just one of more than 185 experiences on offer from 45 businesses in the Discover Aboriginal Experiences collective, all told by the person who owns the story being Aboriginal guided. For more go to Australia.com/aboriginal