The Central Highlands subregion is part of the Grampians region in western
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
. It includes the municipalities of
Rural City of Ararat
The Rural City of Ararat is an Australian local government area located in the western part of the state of Victoria. It covers an area of and in the 2021 had a population of 11,880.
The area includes the towns of Ararat, Armstrong, Dunne ...
,
City of Ballarat
The City of Ballarat is a local government area in the west of the state of Victoria, Australia. It covers an area of and, in June 2023, had a population of 118,137. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the ...
,
Golden Plains Shire
The Golden Plains Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018, had a population of 23,120. It includes the towns of Bannockburn, Inverleigh, L ...
,
Shire of Hepburn
The Shire of Hepburn is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of and, in the 2021 Census the shire had a population of 16,604.
It includes the towns of Clunes, Creswick, ...
,
Shire of Moorabool
The Shire of Moorabool is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, in June 2018, had a population of 34,158. It includes the towns of Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Balliang, ...
,
Shire of Pyrenees
The Shire of Pyrenees is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 7,353.
It includes the towns of Avoca, Beaufort, Lexton and ...
.
The term is mainly used in a geological context to describe that part of the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
that is west of its alpine areas but does not extend to its western end in Victoria's west. The area is situated east of
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
, south of
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
, north and east of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, and west of the alpine areas. Major towns of the Central Highlands include Castlemaine,
Creswick
Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat, Victoria, Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the ...
Kyneton
Kyneton ( ) is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of central Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east.
The town has three main streets: Mollison Street, Piper Street and High Street. Piper Street has ...
and Woodend. All these towns are located in what is usually referred to as the West Central Highlands. The more mountainous and more sparsely populated eastern part of the Central Highlands is referred to as the East Central Highlands and has extensive areas of
temperate rainforest
Temperate rainforests are rainforests with coniferous or Broad-leaved tree, broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain.
Temperate rainforests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate ...
.
Rainforests
The East Victorian Central Highlands, including some of Melbourne's water catchments, contain cool temperate
rainforests
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
; dominated by
myrtle beech
''Nothofagus cunninghamii'', commonly known as myrtle beech or Tasmanian myrtle, is the dominant species of cool temperate rainforests in Tasmania and Southern Victoria. It has low fire resistance and grows best in partial shade conditions.
It ...
fern
The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...
s and
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
es. They may also contain
eucalypt
Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia:
''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
trees and
blackwood
Blackwood may refer to:
Botany
* African blackwood (''Dalbergia melanoxylon''), a timber tree of Africa
* African blackwood ('' Erythrophleum africanum''), (''Peltophorum africanum'') also Rhodesian blackwood, trees from Africa
* Australian blac ...
.
Logging and environmental impact
The ''Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement'' protects approximately 43.84% of rainforest stands in the Central Highlands of Victoria within dedicated reserves. Any rainforest that is not within these dedicated reserve is susceptible to the impacts of clearfell
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks16 June 2009 "Australia: Scientists call for Protection of world’s most carbon dense Forests" ''San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center'', Retrieved on 4 August 2009
A paper published in the US-based ''
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...
'' reports that the world's most carbon dense forest is found in the Central Highlands of Victoria.
Logging is proceeding in very significant regions of the
Toolangi State Forest
The Toolangi State Forest region in southern Australia extends from Mount Monda in the south up to Murrindindi, Victoria, Murrindindi in the north and includes the township of Toolangi, Victoria, Toolangi. The forest is mainly eucalypt fore ...
, including forest that provides habitat for the endangered
Leadbeater's possum
Leadbeater's possum (''Gymnobelideus leadbeateri'') is a critically endangered Phalangeriformes, possum largely restricted to small pockets of Eucalyptus delegatensis, alpine ash, Eucalyptus regnans, mountain ash, and Eucalyptus pauciflora, sno ...
Yarra Ranges National Park
Yarra Ranges National Park is located in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Australia's southeastern States and territories of Australia, state, Victoria (state), Victoria, roughly 107 km (66.5 mi) northeast of Melb ...