Landcare

As early as 1958, the Warrnambool Field Naturalist club established experimental plots of native trees at Tower Hill as part of their efforts to conserve the area for wildlife.

Even though the plantings were native, they were not local species. Originating from other states, such as New South Wales, it was found that the plants did not provide suitable habitat for local native animals.

Later plantings of local native species were successful in supporting local wildlife and enabled the reintroduction of species including koalas, emus, sugar gliders and echidnas to Tower Hill in the 1970's.

This was an important early lesson in conservation. The replanting program was the first of its kind in Victoria and provided the model for the national Landcare movement which established in the late 1980's.

Tower Hill Reserve Timeline

1866  Parts of crater and rim temporarily reserved for public purposes
         Acclimatisation Society appointed manager
1896  Society revoked as manager
1873  Area permanently reserved for public purposes  
         New Committee of Management appointed
1882  Existing Committee revoked and new Committee of Management appointed
1892  Tower Hill National Park Bill passed
         Control vested with the Shire, to be managed for public recreation
1961  Tower Hill gazetted as a State Game Reserve

Returning native fauna

As the re-established vegetation matured it provided new habitat for many animals, but due to the isolated nature of the Tower Hill site, the re-introduction of animals required human assistance.

Between 1964 and 1985, attempts were made to establish 15 native mammal and bird species at Tower Hill in areas that had been revegetated. Of these, a total of eight re-introductions were successful - the Eastern grey kangaroo, Shortbeaked echidna, Emu, Cape Barren goose, Magpie goose, Sugar glider, Common brushtail possum and Koala. The Agile antechinus was re-introduced in 1995.

It's likely that populations of common ringtail possums, as well as many bird species, have naturally re-established at Tower Hill since these earlier re-introductions.

Some of the fauna suited to the wetland and grass areas may also have persisted throughout the environmental change at Tower Hill. Currently, nine native amphibian and 12 native reptile species inhabit the reserve.

The wetlands and revegetated slopes of Tower Hill now supports more than 150 species of birds. Not all of these birds are permanent residents, some are migratory and others are vagrants at the extremes of their ranges.

Re establishing native vegetation

Noted artist Eugene von Guerard painted Tower Hill in 1855, prior to European habitation. A revegetation program for Tower Hill based on the painting began in the late 1950s.

With the aid of Broad Vegetation Type and Ecological Vegetation Classes pre-1750 mapping, pollen analysis and nearby patches of remnant vegetation, this revegetation program was expanded and aimed to re-establish the original
ecosystem, with the appropriate mix of overstorey and understorey plants, as well as herbs and grasses.

More than 400,000 trees have now been planted throughout the reserve. Many herbs, rushes and grasses have also been planted or seeded directly to date.

The revegetation program at Tower Hill has been strongly supported by volunteer groups. Thousands of school children, field naturalists, game hunters and other volunteers have contributed to the re-establishment of native vegetation and the removal of exotic plant species. The Friends of Tower Hill continue to progress the revegetation and rehabilitation works.

Future works will focus on the reintroduction of indigenous understorey plants including ferns and grasses, as well as over-storey species, and the gradual removal of mature introduced plants.

Restoring the environment

Although there was early interest in preserving Tower Hill, it wasn't until 1866 that parts of the site were temporarily reserved from sale, as a site for public purposes, under the Tower Hill Acclimatization Society.

Unfortunately though, significant environmental damage had already occurred and more was to follow.

Tower Hill was declared Victoria's first National Park in 1892, in an attempt to halt the environmental decline of the area. However, grazing and quarrying continued as legitimate uses of the reserve and by the 1930s the hills and islands were mostly bare and the wildlife was reduced to species that could survive in the remaining grasslands and wetlands.

In the late 1950's, the Warrnambool Field Naturalists club drew attention to the deplorable state of the Tower Hill Reserve and assisted in lobbying government for the creation of conservation areas to halt the decline of game bird populations in Victoria, and in 1961, Tower Hill State Game Reserve was declared, one of a several game reserves established across the State.

Managing a sustainable koala population                                              

Native Vegetation

Tower Hill lies within the Victorian Volcanic Plain bioregion, of which less than 3% has been reserved for conservation purposes. The original vegetation of the reserve (pre-1750) is thought to have consisted of the Ecological Vegetation Class Cinder Cone Woodland.

The landscape would have been dominated by typically low-branching and spreading Manna Gum and/or Swamp Gum with a grassy or bracken-dominated understorey. Allocasuarina would also have been found throughout this environment and the intact vegetation would have been rich in geophytes (herbaceous plant with an underground storage organ such as a bulb) as well as grasses.

Some trees may have been stunted where exposed to salt-laden wind. In addition, species of tea-trees, blackwood, wattles, banksias and sheoaks are thought to have been present at Tower Hill prior to European arrival.
Descriptions by James Bonwick upon visiting Tower Hill in 1857 also suggest that tree ferns were plentiful in the gullies at Tower Hill.