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The natural History Centre
In 1962, celebrated Australian Architect, Robin Boyd, was commissioned to design the Natural History Centre (known now as the Worn Gundidj Visitor Centre) on the main Island at Tower Hill.
The building, completed in 1969, is an early example of an interpretive centre intended to provide information to the public about the restoration of the Tower Hill environment and to be a centre for the study of wildlife management.
Boyd created a simple stone circular structure, with sloping roof, mirroring the volcanic island hilltops and sitting in harmony with the landscape.
The circular glazed pavilion is a timber construction with a sill height, stone skirt and wide eaves. At the centre of the open internal space is a central hollow stone column which supports the roof and is crowned by a skylight reminiscent of the core of a volcano. Laminated timber rafters, arranged radially, span from the hollow stone core to the outer ring of window and project-out to form deep eaves.
Legacy of a creative Australian
 Robin Boyd, CBE (1919-1971) was a renowned Victoria architect, author, critic and public educator - a leader in Melbourne's Modern Architecture movement, a visionary in urban design and outspoken on the 'Australian Identity'.
A member of the talented Boyd family which included novelist, Martin Boyd, and painter, Arthur Boyd, Robin Boyd is arguably the most influential architect there has been in Australia.
Boyd inspired the general community through his writing, and through his architecture he became an acknowledged leader in the design and architecture professions. His influence was and still is far reaching. He promoted the benefits of design in the built environment, a sense of rapport between the built and natural environments, design to reflect contemporary lifestyles and the development of a strong sense of Australian identity. Issues that are as relevant today as they were in Boyd's day.
Photograph courtesy of Mark Strizic, Photographer.
Heritage ListedTower Hill is an inspirational and iconic landscape, captured in the famous Von Guerard painting. It conserves a unique and magnificent geological feature and encapsulates the evolution of a cultural landscape which has seen more than a century of changing attitudes towards the Australian environment from one of disregard, to the earliest outstanding example of community revegetation programs.
Very rarely do natural areas have a full compliment of aesthetic, historic, scientific, social and architectural values of State-wide significance. For this reason, the Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve and the Tower Hill Natural History Centre have been listed on the Victorian Heritage register.
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