In 2011, a University of Melbourne geologist, Bernie Joyce, spoke of the dangers of lingering volcanic activity in Victoria.
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Four years later, the menace still lurks as Ballarat and its surrounding areas inch ever closer to the ticking time bomb of destruction that could ruin us all.
Sounds overly dramatic, doesn’t it? And no doubt that statement borders on ridiculous.
In all seriousness though, Mr Joyce’s colleague, Dr Erin Matchan of the University of Melbourne’s school of earth sciences, says it is inevitable that a volcano will eventually form and explode in Victoria.
“There’s a certainty that another one will occur at some point,” Dr Matchan said.
“It could be 10,000 years or I guess it could be next week.
“It would be extremely unlikely to never happen in Victoria (again).”
Given the turmoil and volcanic ash that has engulfed Bali over the past few weeks – an island in a country well versed to deal with the effects of volcanoes – Western Victoria appears comparatively feeble in its ability to deal with such a disaster.
Associate Professor Joyce told The Courier in 2011 that most of Australia was unprepared for a volcanic eruption, which could come without much warning.
“Because the volcanoes around the Ballarat area are not as young as others across western Victoria and Mt Gambier, you could expect a new volcano to come up in a cluster at some point in the future,” he said.
“It might not happen for many years, but when you look at areas like Mt Franklin, there is no reason why new volcanoes or eruptions might not happen.”
There are nearly 400 extinct volcanoes in Victoria, with the Ballarat region featuring Mt Blackwood near Bacchus Marsh, Mt Franklin near Daylesford, Mt Buninyong and Mt Warrenheip.
Mt Warrenheip erupted a million years ago, while Mt Franklin, considered a young volcano, erupted 470,000 years ago.
Dr Matchan said describes Victoria’s volcanic response as “rather special”, with many volcanoes considered relatively young and therefore active.
“We do have some volcanoes in Victoria that have produced a bit of ash, more down towards the coast towards Warrnambool (at Tower Hill).
”Near Skipton there are some slightly younger volcanoes in Mt Widderin (caves) and Mt Elephant.”
