General News
17 July, 2026
Derrinallum sees visit from volcanologist
FAMILIES around the Derrinallum region enjoyed a special school holiday program which gave children an opportunity to learn more about their local volcanoes.
Volcanologist and Monash University adjunct associate professor Heather Handley visited the Mount Elephant Visitor Centre during the school holidays as part of a volcanic education program.
Professor Handley has been involved with a variety of educational activities, including a science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) program aimed to connect children with science.
Held on the two Sundays of the school holidays, the program saw a variety of kid-friendly activities on offer with a focus on volcanoes and mountains.
Organiser Terri Turner said the idea to host Professor Handley came from connections with Mount Elephant Community Management treasurer Lesley Brown.
“Heather had connections with Leslie, and she came out her in 2021-2022 to meet up with Leslie and collect rocks on the top of Mount Elephant,” she said.
“She took those back and turned them into tiny slivers and started to look at those through the microscope.
“RMIT University are doing a research program and around two months ago they did a workshop with two-thirds of the Mount Elephant Management Committee.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to hear all elements, and the professors were able to ask a whole bunch of questions which then gave a lot of confirmation back to the community.
“Their research paper was trying to show the value of privately-owned nature reserves beyond biodiversity.”
Following discussions with the professors of RMIT University, the Mount Elephant Community Management committee planned to host school holiday and family open door days at the visitor centre.
The first of these sessions were held on Sunday, July 5 and Sunday, July 12.
While the inaugural session saw low attendance, the second session saw 15 families head up Mount Elephant for some school holiday fun.
“There were people coming from 10.30am right through to 3pm,” Ms Turner said.
“A lot of people came both Sundays because they actively got involved with Heather and the activities.
“They were here between an hour and an hour and a half, with some staying two hours because the space allowed for that.
“Most of them were local in the region – not just Derrinallum, but within the region.
“Some people had come from Ballarat who had family connections to the region.”
Ms Turner said the sessions proved to be “beautiful” days.
“I had set up stations which were simple enough for people at any age to participate with parental supervision,” she said.
“Heather was in the east wing while the stations were in the west wing, so it was a space that all ages groups could actively engage in one activity or another.
“Where can you go in the region where you can actually have an activity base where you can freely interact with your children with organised activities and, if the weather’s fine, you can go for a walk.
“Mount Elephant’s a very rare commodity in this community for people to go for walks because most people who come here may not necessarily have a farm to walk around or a place to take their dogs.”
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