a Mount Elephant Home Page



Main gate off Hamilton Highway, 1km west of Derrinallum.

(Update  20/9/2016)

We are open from 1pm to 4pm each Sunday.
(Unless it is a "Total fire ban", a "Severe" fire risk day or worse).
Mount Elephant Centre under construction during 2016 may cause temporary closure to visitors.
Please ring 0408 547015 beforehand to be sure.

Visit our new "Mount Elephant Community" Facebook page for latest news! 

Click here to register your address for our email newsletter "Update".

Mount Elephant is a perfect breached scoria cone that last erupted somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000 years ago. It dominates the 3rd largest Volcanic Basalt Plain on Earth and can be seen for 60 kilometres in all directions.

The Mount is located 1 kilometre west of the township of Derrinallum, on the Hamilton Highway.
It is an easy one-hour drive from major regional centres such as Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool and Hamilton, and a comfortable two-hour drive from Melbourne.

Visit us   Open days  In 2016 we will be open every Sunday from 1 till 4pm. (Except days of Total Fire Ban or "Severe" fire risk.)
                   At any other time you can collect a key from Geoff at "Urquhart Motors" service station Ph:55976570
                   Groups such as schools can make an appointment for other more suitable times.
                   Dogs on leads are welcome.
                   Please note that for your safety we will not be open on days of total fire ban.
                   Please also note the safety precautions listed in "visit us"
                   A more complete list is in the Risk management Plan.

Latest News........

                                    No unsupervised entry to the mountain during building operations.

19/9/16 Roof is on and interior fit out is progressing.

27/7/16 Roof is progressing well. We had a visit from Danielle Green MP : Parliamentary Secretary to the Hon Jaalna Pulford (Western Province) Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Regional Development and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

23/6/16 Rammed earth walls are going up.The roof slopes to the front. Windows will fill the spaces.
 
     
28/5/16 Slab is poured for the Mount Elephant Centre.

Mount Elephant Centre contract signed with builders MKM Construction Pty Ltd 24/3/2016
(Building will be during 2016.)

Webcam mounted on the summit. Click here for details. (now removed over winter period)

Architect has been appointed for the Mount Elephant Centre. Click here for the press release.

Architect Brief for the proposed Mount Elephant Centre. Click here to view it.

The Business Plan is also available. Click here to view it.

Updates to this page are posted on Facebook. Click here to view them.

Visitor Centre site meeting with the architect

24/3/16 contract signed with the builders.

27 may 2015 meeting with Jake Kelly to inspect the site for the Centre.

Making of the film "Terra Firma"
9 Dec 2014 Click here for details.

Funding announced for Visitor Centre.


6 November 2014Terry Mulder announced funding assistance of $150,000 to help fund construction. Click here for details.

School educational visits
Buninyong Primary school July 2104


Market to Mount Fun Run
Sunday 16 March 2014.

Here are some competitors at the finish in 2014. Click here for more photos on Flickr.

Gateway project

March 2014 Completed entrance

Alistair Tune constructing the entrance.
Nov 2013 Alistair Tune constructing the entrance

Visitor Centre Project

On March 2014  MECM accepted the Bisiness and Management Plan


On 13 Sept The MECM accepted the quote by SED Advisory to implement the project. Click here for more details.

Terry Mulder MLC, Cr.Geoff Smith, committee members Geoff Henderson, Chris Lang, Val Lang.

On 3 June 2013 we were awarded a State Govt grant of $30000 "Putting Locals First Program" for Mount Elephant Visitor Centre Business Planning project.
This came from the Minister for Regional and Rural Development Peter Ryan MLA.
It was presented to the MECM on 7 June by local member Terry Mulder MLC.
This will be matched by $10000 from the Borbidge Fund and will finance the detailed planning of the proposed Visitor Centre.
Click here for more details on the progress of the project.
                                                             
And finally, a thanks to our sponsors...............  Corangamite CMA, Fed Govt "Caring for our Country" fund, State Dept of Rural and Regional Development "Putting Locals First" Program, DSE "Communities for Nature" fund, Trust for Nature, Corangamite Shire, Jack and Millie Borbidge fund, Sue Hickey Foundation,  generous local public, volunteers, visiting public, and the list goes on...............


Subpages (1): Fire spotting webcam