Dry-stone walls
Typically features of the English countryside, 19th-century stone walls can also be found in Victoria.
THE MOST PROLIFIC manifestation of the volcanic nature of south-western Victoria is often hiding in plain sight. Dry-stone walls are found across the region, built by landowners who used the troublesome rocks littering their fields to fence their boundaries. The walls stretch across paddocks, over the stony rises and down and across the lava flows. The artisans who created them were mostly migrants from Britain and Europe.
The oldest remnants are from the 1840s, but most were built in the 1870s and 1880s, and one of the greatest challenges was to make them rabbit-proof. The most significant wall in western Victoria is said to be the Rabbit Wall, built by the Manifold brothers. It was up to 2m high and originally ran unbroken for
about 10km, from Lake Corangamite to Lake Purrumbete.
These structures are sturdy. The best used two parallel walls at the base, linked by through-stones and the gaps filled with smaller stones. A single course was used towards the top. The finest are also as aesthetically pleasing as they are functional; there are some impressive examples of stone gate-pillars gracing entries to properties in the region.
A brochure detailing the Dry Stone Heritage Trail, with a map and descriptions, is available at the Tourist Information Centre in Camperdown. Learn more at: www.dswaa.org.au.