Photography provided by Tobias Titz
Mt Korong is part of the Wedderburn granite field which formed deep underground in the Devonian era, over 300 million years ago.
Granites form by ballooning up as melted magma from the outer crust of the earth’s mantle. Gradually, over many millions of years, the land is weathered away and these cooled “plutons” are exposed. Boulders are likewise formed and sculpted underground by the action of subterranean water entering the rock through fault lines or fractures. If you notice where the fractures are, you can see how the often fluted and figurative shapes of the boulders formed.
This, at any rate, is the scientific story of Mt Korong’s origin. The Dja Dja Wurrung have a very different story.
Geologists have not yet worked out when Mt Korong became exposed at the surface but some estimate it to have been 40 million years ago. It is also thought that, despite harsh surface weathering, the life expectancy of the mount is long. It is likely to endure longer than we can imagine, through many cycles of climate change, many phases of evolution – many millions of years.