Stieglitz and Brisbane Ranges

Come with us as we explore this area, steeped in history. Meander through the valleys and gorges of Melbourne’s volcanic plains. We’ll explore the tracks and trails of the Stieglitz Historic Area including a few narrow rocky sections of trail with a mix of open forest tracks and a few management trails to keep it interesting.

During the 1860’s, Stieglitz was a booming gold town catering for the needs of over 1500 people. Busy streets lined with dozens of buildings, hotels and banks and schools. Today it is home to about a dozen residents and a wealth of gold mining history. With lightly wooded hills and numerous small ravines and gorges, it has a ruggedness that is not immediately seen from the surrounding volcanic plains. The discovery of gold in the 1850’s brought huge changes to this landscape and the remnants of this is quite apparent on this walk, with mine shafts, ruins, and other landscape changes. The area is also home to an extremely large variety of bird species and is an important haven for koalas, wallabies, kangaroos, echidnas and the hard to spot but very cute sugar gliders.