This site is inside the Grampians National Park and is managed by local rangers. National Parks are protected places so please obey all signs and requests from rangers and try to leave no trace of your visit. If you see any trash on your trip please CITO (Cache In Trash Out)
From the car park the quarry is approximately a 600m walk. On your way past the information sign at S 37 01.465 E 142 29.755 take note of the information about the quarry.
Now you have arrived at the quarry. You may notice the old abandoned relics of the workings here.
The steep wall of this quarry is made up of sandstone from the Mt Difficult Range. The Sandstone you see here was created approximately 430 Million Years ago, when the coastline of Victoria ran North – South through the Grampians region.
Over millions of years several thousand meters of sand and mud were deposited on the this shoreline in flat sheets that created the rocks in the Grampians region.
Over the millions of year the few kilometers of sand was compressed into the hard sandstone you see before you, by a combination of pressure and temperature.
Not long after this the Grampians region was submitted to huge compressive forces from plate motions and continental drift.
These forces caused the rocks to compress and deform until they had created the ranges you see today.
You can still see the holes in the sandstone where the quarry workers used the plug & feather technique to prize the stone away from the rock face.
Toward the end of the quarries life they used the more brutal blasting technique which damaged the rock face in some places.
A train track was cut into the quarry to take the sandstone out. Most of the track was removed in the 1950's but you can still see part of it in a small cutting.
Heatherlie Quarry is noted for its high quality building stone which has been used in more than 20 distinguished buildings in Melbourne, including Parliament House and the State Library of Victoria.
You may log this cache before you receive confirmation from us, however if we do not receive you email we will be obliged to delete your log
To log this EarthCache you must: Take a photo of yourself with your GPSr outside the hut at S 37 01.410 E 142 29.713 and post it with your log, then email us with the answers to the following questions
NOTE: As of 1st January 2011 the EarthCache guidelines have changed and you do not have to provide a photo. However if your answers are incorrect your log will be deleted. You are more than welcome to add a photo if you so desire to your log as proof of a visit.
- What does the stone carving to the east of the hut's doorway at S 37 01.410 E 142 29.713 say?
- How heavy were the individual blocks of sandstone when they were removed from the quarry? There are two different answers to this question we will accept either
- What did you learn about the area from your visit?
Logs that do not meet the conditions above will be deleted.