Mount Buninyong is a hill overlooking Ballarat

Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...

 in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Formed from an extinct volcano, it rises to 719 metres (2,359 ft) above sea level. The mountain was originally named Mount Bonan Yowing which is said to derive from an Aboriginal word meaning a man lying on his back with his knee raised. It was from the peak that Thomas Learmonth

Thomas Livingstone Learmonth

Thomas Livingstone Learmonth , an early Victorian settler who established land around Ballarat, VictoriaLearmonth is the son of the late Thomas Learmonth, a well-known settler in Tasmania, and was born in 1818...

 and a group of squatters first viewed the Ballarat area in 1837.

Mount Buninyong, located in Buninyong

Buninyong, Victoria

Buninyong is a place in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Midland Highway, south of Ballarat on the road to Geelong. It's known locally as the drug smuggling capital of the South West region. Local Dealers are said to import the majority of their cannabis supply from farmers in Durham Lead...

 is one of the more recognizable landmarks in the entire Goldfields region and is used as an antenna site for radio, TV and telephone equipment. The summit has been a minor tourist destination and picnic spot for over 140 years. The major part of the mountain was cleared for agriculture or housing, but widespread protests during the 1980s led to the preservation of native forest cover on much of the upper portion.

Climate

Total annual rainfall for the Mount Buninyong area is 779 millimetres (Mulconry 1990). During the colder months growing conditions are restricted. Severe frosts and snow fall occur during winter.

Soils

The soils of the mount are very fertile and the high permeability and available water capacity makes these soils very favourable for agriculture.

Heritage

The Keyeet balug clan of the Wada Wurrung (or Wathaurong) tribe occupied the Mount Buninyong area. An aboriginal burial site was located in the 1860s and more recently stone tools have been found (Centre for Environmental Management, CEM 1997). Mount Buninyong is seen as a significant site for the recognition of the ongoing connection of Aboriginal people with the land through creation stories and cultural sites and is an ideal site for interpreting Aboriginal cultural history. There have been no records of Aboriginal archaeological sites for Mount Buninyong. There is no evidence that the area has been surveyed. Aboriginal Affairs Victoria has recommended that a survey should take place (CEM 1997).

Mount Buninyong was an important navigation peak for the early colonisers heading west for pastoral occupation. Springs at the base of the Mount were important sites for early settlement (Mulconry 1990). Pound Creek Spring has remained as a public Water Reserve.