Melville Caves and Mount Kooyoora are located in the Kooyoora State Park
Entrance sign to Kooyoora State Park leading to Mount Kooyoora and Melville Caves (2014)
~Add info on Melville Caves~
~Add info on Mount Kooyoora~
~Add info on Kooyoora State Park~
Associated with the Jaara Jarra people
First Europeans: party of Thomas Mitchell during his Australia Felix expedition of 1836
Located to the north of Rheola.
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Kooyoora State Park offers opportunities for sightseeing, bushwalking, rock-climbing, picnicking, nature studies, camping, abseiling, cycling, prospecting (permit required) birdwatching, orienteering, horseriding
Visitors have access to picnic tables, shelter, toilets and drinking water. There are several sign posted walks, including sightseeing lookouts, starting at the picnic ground, ranging from one to three hours. There are two camp grounds in the park.
The large granite boulders and granite outcrops help form the unique landscape.
Size: 11 646 ha (28,777 acres)
Proclaimed a State Park in 1985.
Extended in October 2002 to enhance Victoria’s Box‐Ironbark forests and woodlands.
Contains the remains of “White Swan Quartz Mine” which was worked in the 1920s, 30’s and during World War II producing industrial and ornamental quartz.
Views South from Melvile Caves (2013)
Melville Caves – was listed on the Register of the National Estate as a geological monument
Mount Kooyoora is at an altitude of about 475m above sea level
For More Info:
Parks Victoria Website http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/kooyoora-state-park
Includes Map
http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/313806/Park-note-Kooyoora-State-Park.pdf
Pictures:
http://www.australianpictorials.com/melville_caves.html
Sources:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Victoria/Melville-Caves/2005/02/17/1108500206941.html
http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/313806/Park-note-Kooyoora-State-Park.pdf
http://vicforeveryone.com.au/city/inglewood/landscapes-and-vistas/melvilles-cave/
Captain Melville ~Needs Expanding~
Francis Melville (1822-1857), bushranger, was born Francis McNeiss McNiel McCallum in Inverness, Scotland.
Transported from Scotland to Van Diemen's Land at the age of 15. He was sentenced to seven years' transportation for housebreaking.
He spent more than 10 years at Port Arthur.
In 1851 he made his way to Victoria to take advantage of the goldrush
Claimed leadership, in 1852, of the Mount Macedon gang that waylaid travellers in the Black Forest.
Believed it is after this that he may have used Melville Caves as a hide/look out.
Was captured in Geelong in December 1852
August 1857, Melville was found dead in his cell, strangled. Whether by his own hand or that of someone else has never been determined.
Sources:
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/melville-francis-4183
http://www.captainmelville.com.au/about.html#who-was
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Melville
http://www.nedkellysworld.com.au/bushrangers/mccallum_f.htm
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