Heathcote and Surrounds

Devonian, European History, Mining, Ordovician, Quaternary, Silurian, Wine

Heathcote is a small town North of Melbourne, renowned for gourmet foods and distinctive wines – specifically its stunning Shiraz. It is also a hot spot for prospectors on the hunt for Gold and – surrounded by National and State Parks – a popular destination for bush walkers and twitchers alike.

There are, however, many stories yet to be discovered in this spectacular region. Stories of monumental glaciers tearing across the landscape leaving deep grooves in the rocks beneath, magma rising vertically through cracks in the Earth as hot wax moves in a lava lamp, bearing different minerals to the surface, and an ancient ocean floor bursting with the evolution of unfamiliar animals such as trilobites from a complex soup of microbes.

Below are three things: a geological map, a cross section of the region and a ‘legend’ that explains what all of the colours mean. A cross-section is essentially a vertical slice through the landscape… if the soil was vanilla icing, the mountains were sugary jubes, the ridges were snakes and the layers of rocks were actually layers of sponge separated by cream… you’d have a slice of cake to eat and also the cross-section below. The position of the cross-section is denoted by the black line in the geological map.

GEOLOGICAL MAP

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Geological Points of interest in the Heathcote Region.

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Published on 28 October 2025

Regional_Geology

Ordovician

Ordovician turbidites

Devonian

Crosbie Granite

Harcourt Granite

Commissioners Flat Granodiorite

Cobaw Batholith

Permian

Permian Glacial Deposits

Dunn's Inlier

Silurian

Puckapunyal Formation

Broadford Formation

Humevale Siltstone

Puckapunyal Formation

Lower Silurian

Dargile Formation

Wapentake Formation

Costerfield Siltstone

01_Quaternary

Recent Volcanics

Cambrian

Cambrian Volcanics

Upper Silurian

McIvor Sandstone

Lower Devonian

Mount Ida Formation

Heathcote Wine Region

All items

Jasper Hill Vineyard

Whistling Eagle Vineyard

Hennings Vineyard

Kennedy Vineyard

Colbinabbin Estate

The Shiraz Republic

St Michael's Vinyard

Hanging Rock Winery

Tellurian Wines

Mt Tolleen Estate

Barnadown Run

Heathcote II

Snobs Creek Wines

Domaines Tatiano Vineyard

Silver Spoon Estate

Vinea Marson

Wren Estate

Munari Wines

Jasper Hill Vineyard

Downing Estate

Sanguine Estate Wines

The Bridge Vineyard

Idavue Estate

Meehan Vineyard

Milvine Estate Wines

Red Edge Winery

Merindoc Cellar Door

Wild Duck Creek Estate

Condie Estate

McIvor Creek Estate

Mount Camel Ridge Estate

Flynns Wines

Geological Sites

Lake Eppalock Spillway Lookout

Erratics on shoreline

Stranger Rock

Kellam's Rock

Diamictite on Rail Trail

The Cascades

Aboriginal Axe Quarry

Commissioners Flat Granodiorite

Red Hill Mine

Historic Sluice Mining

Mt Ida Lookout

Mount William Metabasalt

Viewing Rock Lookout

Mundy Gully Historic Workings

Langs Lookout

Granite Quarry Lookout

Aplitic Dyke

Dog Rocks

La Larr Ba Gauwa Mountain Bike Park

Ed's Seat Lookout

Forest Creek Historic Gold Diggings

Garfield Water Wheel

Expedition Pass Reservoir

Welsh Village

Slate Quarry

Turpins Falls

Black Hill Reserve

Barfold Gorge Geological Reserve

Central Deborah Gold Mine

Victoria Hill Mining Reserve

A - A' Cross-section

Bald Hill Historic Workings

Fosterville Gold Mine

Baynton I16 Bushland Reserve

Redesdale Mountain Bike Park

Costerfield Siltstone

Augusta Mine

Hanging Rock Swimming Hole

Road Cutting: Mt Ida Formation

Road Cutting: McIvor Sandstone

... 36 more

Geological Walks

Moorabbee Shoreline Geological Reserve walk

Parking for the Moorabbee Shoreline Geological Walk

Truck Stop

Mt Ida Lookout drive

Dargile Forest Loop

Dargile Camping and Picnic Ground

Viewing Rock Circuit Walk

Parking for Viewing Rock Circuit Walk

Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve Walk

Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve Loop Walk

Parking for Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve Walk

Leanganook Track - Castlemaine Diggings National Park

Leanganook Track - Mt Alexander

Leanganook Track - Bendigo

Granite Quarry Track

Leanganook Picnic Area

Mount Alexander Tower Parking

Garfield Waterwheel to Welsh Village Loop

Forest Creek Track

Garfield Water Wheel Carpark

Red Hill Mine track

... 17 more

Gems and Minerals

Jasper and Chert - Sheep Station Creek

Jasper and Chert - Sheoak Gully

Jasper and Chert - Heathcote-Rochester Road

Copper - Mount Camel

Selwynite

Gold, Stibnite, Arsenopyrite, Quartz, Iron

Suggested Driving Route

Melbourne Central, Melbourne VIC

Turpins Falls

Castlemaine VIC

Garfield Water Wheel

Mount Alexander Tower Parking

Central Deborah Gold Mine

Lake Eppalock Spillway Lookout

Parking for Viewing Rock Circuit Walk

Lancefield VIC

Melbourne Central, Melbourne VIC

... 6 more

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Heathcote Region

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Geological Points of interest in the Heathcote Region.

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Heathcote Region

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CROSS-SECTION

- -

TIMELINE (OLDEST TO YOUNGEST)

The Heathcote Stratigraphy is dominated by marine rocks which were deposited along the margin of the Gondwana landmass from the Cambrian to the Early Devonian (see Geology of Victoria to learn more about Gondwana).

VOLCANISM Quaternary (15-5 Ma)

Basalt, Waterfall Quarry, Axedale
Volcanics, Lake Eppalock Spillway Lookout

The lava that flows down the Coliban and Campaspe river valleys are made up of rocks that look like the piece of basalt above from Axedale. There have been extensive lava flows in the region over the last few million years but luckily.. not in recent history.

How to identify it:

Basalt can be identified by its fine grained minerals, the dark colour of the minerals, enrichment of Iron and all of the little holes – called vesicles – in the rock.

Where to see it:

Lake Eppalock Spillway Lookout.
Turpins Falls.

GLACIATION Permian (300 – 250 Ma)

Glacial siltstone with striations
Glacial conglomerate
Permian glacial pavement with striations caused by glaciers dragging rocks, Lake Eppalock, Victoria.
Diamictite on Rail Trail
Permian glacial dropstones, Lake Eppalock, Victoria.

In the Late Carboniferous and Permian Gondwana experienced a prolonged Ice Age. Most Permian deposits were eroded in Victoria and so the Permian deposits at Heathcote are quite rare!

How to identify it:

Glacial tillites (the ‘glacial conglomerate’ above) can be identified by the loose compaction of often rounded diverse types of rocks in amongst a matrix of fine-grained mud. Look for deep groves on these rocks – these are called striations and are evidence of the glacier moving, very slowly, like a river of ice.

Where to see it:

Moorabbee Geological Reserve (glacial striations, tillite, erratics).
O’keefe Rail Trail Parking (Stranger Rock, diamictite in wall of path).

GRANITE INTRUSIONS Devonian (370 – 300 Ma)

Granodiorite
Felsic dyke (quartz porphyry)
Granite tors Tooborac-Lancefield Road
Mount Alexander Quarry
Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve

In the Devonian the crust was intruded and metamorphosed (heated) by granites and subjected to prolonged erosion. Granites in the region were extensively mined to form granite blocks used as building materials all around Victoria.

How to identify it:

Granites can be identified by their big grain size, light colour and crystalline shape of the minerals. Granites usually contain a combination of Quartz (clear), Feldspars (opaque white/pink), Biotite (black flakes) and Muscovite (light brown flakes). Sometimes there will be fine-grained lines through the granite, we call these felsic dykes. Granite often weathers to form round and often precariously balanced boulders or ‘tors’.

Where to see it:

Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve.
The Cascades swimming hole.
Mount Alexander Regional Park.
McHarg Ranges and Tooborac.

INFILLING OF MELBOURNE TROUGH Silurian- Devonian (435 – 370 Ma)

McIvor Sandstone, Viewing Rock
Mt Ida Formation, Mount Ida

The Silurian and Devonian sediments in Heathcote accumulated on the continental shelf along the eastern margin of the continent. The actual position of the shoreline migrated east and west as sea levels rose and fell. Rocks of this age can be recognised in road cuttings as a monotonous sequence of mud dominated sediments and coarser grained sand dominated sediments, rinse and repeat. The size and sorting of sediments can be used to interpret what the environment was at the time of deposition – was it a beach with waves and sand? Or a deep sea shelf with the calm deposition of soft fine-grained muds? Are there fossils? Are there lots of layers? Or just one big sandy one?

How to identify it:

435 – 420 Ma: The Costerfield Siltstone is the oldest unit, representing a calm, deep-water environment (siltstone) and often contains bioturbation, which is fossil evidence of bottom-dwelling creatures mucking around. The Wapentake Formation represents discrete pulses of turbidity currents (sandstone) sourced from land, flowing deep into the sea. The Dargile Formation represents a return to a calm, deep-water environment (siltstone).

420-402 Ma: The McIvor Sandstone and Mount Ida Formation located at Mount Ida represents the position of the shoreline of the Melbourne Basin at this time – a nearshore shallow water environment such as a sandy beach and may contain fossils. This was followed by a sudden deepening of the entire Melbourne Basin and a return to mud deposition. The Broadford Formation represents a sudden influx of coarse-grained clastic material transported by turbidity currents which carved large channels through the mud. The Puckapunyal sediments represent calm depositional environments and are characterised by finer grained more thinly bedded sediments.

Where to see it:

Mount Ida.
Viewing Rock, McIvor Range.
Costerfield Mine.

GOLD FORMATION (420 – 380 Ma)

Folded turbidites with quartz veining in anticline (fold), underground at Fosterville Gold Mine
Gold in quartz, Central Deborah Gold Mine
Antimony (Stibnite), Costerfield Mine
Arsenopyrite, Bendigo
Quartz, Bendigo
Ironstone, Tarnagulla
Gold in Quartz, Fosterville Gold Mine
Mineralised Quartz Veins in Open Cut, Victoria Hill Mining Reserve

1 / 8

Gold Mineralisation occurs across the Heathcote Region, including: Castlemaine, Bendigo and Fosterville in what is structurally termed the ‘Bendigo Zone’ (grey in the map above), Heathcote in what is termed the ‘Heathcote Fault Zone’ (light purple in the map above) and Costerfield in what is termed the ‘Melbourne Zone’ (various shades of green in the map above).

Timing of gold Mineralisation across the region is poorly constrained, however all gold is formed in rocks Devonian and Older. Most evidence points to a major gold-forming deformation event in the Silurian during a period of high geothermal gradient and magmatism. You can learn more about the setting of mineralisation here.

The first recorded Gold Discovery in Heathcote was made in January 1852 in the McIvor Creek near Heathcote. Gold is the most important metallic mineral in Heathcote, with numerous historical goldfields across the region, including: Axedale, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Costerfield, Fosterville, Graytown, Heathcote, Redcastle, Rushworth and Toolleen. The two currently operating mines in the region are Costerfield, which mines antimony and gold and Fosterville Gold Mine, which mines gold.

Other important resources mined in the region include: antimony at Costerfield (mainly used in munitions and battery products), manganese at Bald Hill (Flea Street, Heathcote), copper, silver, lead, nickel, chromium, iron, platinum, tungsten, talc, magnesite and gemstones.

DEEP MARINE TURBIDITE DEPOSITION Ordovician (485 – 435 Ma)

Slate – metamorphosed mud
Sandstone – metamorphosed sand
Laminated Quartz
Graptolite fossils
Graphitic slate
Feldspar
Diamond core of sandstone and shale with pyrite
Slate quarry – Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park

1 / 8

The sediments deposited in the Ordovician covered all of the Cambrian Volcanics through turbidity currents and deep water deposition, called a submarine fan.

How to identify it:

The sandstones and shales of the Ordovician are sedimentary rocks, which means the form from the erosion of metamorphic and igneous rocks (i.e. mountains). You can identify them by how large the grain size is. Coarse grained generally will be a sandstone (or psammite, arkosic sandstone, quartz arenite, quartzite depending on metamorphism) and fine grained will generally be a mudstone or siltstone (or pelite, slate depending on metamorphism). Use the images above to help in identification.

Where to find it:

Many, many road cuttings throughout the region
Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park
Castlemaine Anticlinal Fold
Central Deborah Gold Mine
Victoria Hill Mining Reserve

CREATION OF OCEAN FLOOR Cambrian (570 – 485 Ma)

Blueschist and Greenschist outcropping near Hirds Road in Heathcote.
Selwynite, Mount Ida
Metabasalt, Mt. Burramboot
Axinite, Mt. Burramboot
Chert, Mt Camel

During the Early Cambrian, an ocean floor developed along the eastern margin of the Australian Craton, depositing volcanic rocks (greenstones) and pelagic sediments (cherts). These volcanics probably underlie all of the Heathcote Region, only outcropping along the narrow north-south trending belt you see in the map above.

How to identify it:

The photos of the rock specimens above are fairly descriptive to assist in identifying the chert, greenstone, basalt, Selwynite and Axinite. Unfortunately, there are not very many publicly available places to view these rocks up close.

Where to find it:

All wineries in the Heathcote Wine Region!
Lady’s Pass (Jasper and Chert)
Highway adjacent to Mount Ida
Red Hill Mine

WHY IS ROCK TYPE IMPORTANT?

The Heathcote region is a fantastic region to explore the three main types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. And even more, the difference between deep marine and shallow marine sedimentary rocks and felsic and mafic igneous rocks.

If you walk through through any of these geological units (check the map) see if you can make connections between the unit on the map and what you see beneath your feet.

Rock types will generally determine what kind of topography the land will have, whether it be a tall ridge line (as with the light yellow McIvor Sandstone), a smooth creek or flood plane (as in the dark yellow recent volcanics) or rolling hills (as in the dark pink granitic intrusions). Open the map above in a new tab and change the base map to topography to explore these relationships. Often the change from sandy to muddy layers will correspond to hills (sandy) and valleys/creeks (muddy) due to differences in weathering.

Rock type will also have an important influence on what land is used for. Look carefully at the location of the wineries on the map. What rock unit do they occur on? Volcanic rocks are made up of elements like aluminium, iron, magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium and phosphorus… which happen to be wonderful building blocks of soils that grow crops! The surrounding turbidites (sandstone and shale) and granite are mostly comprised of feldspar, quartz and mica, unsurprisingly producing soil not good for much more than grazing land at best.

Rock types can even influence how water flows through a landscape. Look especially how water flows AROUND the granite hills, THROUGH the soft basalt and meanders chaotically over the Ordovician and Silurian Sandstone and Shale.

PLAN YOUR JOURNEY

To get the best understanding of the geology of the region, it is best to travel in a clockwise direction from Melbourne through to Bendigo via Castlemaine and Harcourt and back to Melbourne through Heathcote and the spectacular McHarg Ranges.

The Geology of the region is complex and diverse, forming five distinctive physiographic units:

Granite Hills and metamorphic aureole ranges: Mount Alexander (Harcourt Granite) and McHarg Ranges (Cobaw Batholith). Both of these regions are characterised by rolling hills littered with tors (boulders) of sculpted granite.
Cambrian Volcanics (Purple): Heathcote Wine Region. This zone forms a defined ridge and is the source location of most of the wineries which fall within the ‘Heathcote Wine Region’.
Glacial Landscapes (Orange): Lake Eppalock.
Basalt Plains (Yellow): Axedale, Redesdale and Turpins Falls. Smooth surfaces with a low relief.
Dissected hills (grey): Mt Ida Range. Ordovician turbidites which dominate the landscape and form dissected hills.

Castlemaine Itinerary

Turpins Falls
The Cascades
Anticlinal Fold, Castlemaine
Forest Creek Historic Diggings
Garfield Waterwheel to Welsh Village loop
Expedition Pass Reservoir

Harcourt Itinerary

Leanganook Track
Dog Rocks (bouldering)
La Larr Ba Gauwa Park (mountain biking)
Granite Quarry Lookout
Harcourt Wine Region
Harcourt Apples

Bendigo Itinerary

Central Deborah Tourist Gold Mine
Victoria Hill Diggings

Lake Eppalock Itinerary

Lake Eppalock Spillway
Moorabbee Shoreline Geological Reserve walk
O’Keef Rail Trail Lookout

Heathcote Itinerary

Mt Ida Lookout and Dargile Forest Walk
Heathcote Wine Region
Pink Cliffs Geological Reserve
Red Hill Mine
Viewing Rock Lookout and Valley of Liquid Ambers
Lady’s Pass and Mount Camel Jasper and Chert

McHarg Ranges and Tooborac

Drive through a spectacular granite landscape with rolling hills and scattered tors.

RESOURCES

GSV report: redesdale and part of pyalong

GSV REPORT: HEATHCOTE AND PARTS OF WOODEND AND ECHUCA

COSTERFIELD AND PART OF PYALONG GEOLOGICAL MAP

We acknowledge the the Dja Dja Wurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land upon which this field guide has been created. We recognise that many areas hold deep cultural significance for local Aboriginal groups and we hope you will keep this in mind as you explore the region.

Heathcote and Surrounds

GEOLOGICAL MAP

CROSS-SECTION

TIMELINE (OLDEST TO YOUNGEST)

VOLCANISM Quaternary (15-5 Ma)

GLACIATION Permian (300 – 250 Ma)

GRANITE INTRUSIONS Devonian (370 – 300 Ma)

INFILLING OF MELBOURNE TROUGH Silurian- Devonian (435 – 370 Ma)

GOLD FORMATION (420 – 380 Ma)

DEEP MARINE TURBIDITE DEPOSITION Ordovician (485 – 435 Ma)

CREATION OF OCEAN FLOOR Cambrian (570 – 485 Ma)

WHY IS ROCK TYPE IMPORTANT?

PLAN YOUR JOURNEY

RESOURCES

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