You Yangs

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You Yangs
The You Yangs viewed from the south. Avalon Airport is in the foreground.
Elevation	352 metres AHD (1,154 feet)
Location	Lara, Australia
First ascent	1802 by Matthew Flinders
Easiest route	Hike, road

The You Yangs are a series of granite peaks that rise dramatically near Lara, Victoria in the Werribee lava plains in Australia, located 22 km north of Geelong and approximately 55 km south-west of Melbourne.

Although only 352 m in height, they dominate the landscape and are clearly identifiable from nearby Geelong, Melbourne and beyond. Camping is not permitted in the You Yangs. The foothills of the peaks are home to Ford Australia's proving ground.^[1]^[2]

Bunjil geoglyph

The You Yangs is also the home of a Geoglyph constructed by the Australian artist Andrew Rogers in recognition of the indigenous people of the area. It depicts Bunjil, a mythical creature to the local Wautharong Aborigines. The creature has a wing span of 100 metres and a 1500 tonnes of rock was used to construct it,^[3] and was unveiled in March 2006.^[4]

[edit] History

The name "You Yang" comes from the Aboriginal words "Wurdi Youang" or "Ude Youang" meaning "big mountain in the middle of a plain". Aboriginal people enlarged natural hollows in the rocks to form wells that held water even in dry seasons^{[citation needed]}.

This outcrop has always been one of the most striking features in the geologic formation known as Port Philip Bay. At a time of high sea levels, some million years or so prior to volcanic eruptions in the area, the You Yangs would have appeared as granite islands in a lonesome sea. Sands and gravels containing marine fossils confirm this maritime phenomenon and are to be found along the southern edge of these ranges. They mark the beaches and shorelines that formed at that time. The You Yangs themselves are not volcanoes as is mistakenly believed, but were formed by volcanic activity. Nearby Mt. Anakie is however a dormant volcano along with many others that dot the region.

Explorer Matthew Flinders was the first European to visit the You Yangs. On May 1, 1802, he and three of his men climbed to the highest point.^[5] He named it "Station Peak"^[6] but the name was changed in 1912 to "Flinders Peak" in his honour.^[7]

The You Yangs have always attracted artists to paint them and feature most strongly in works by one of Australia's greatest artists, Fred Williams. Fred spent long periods developing his en plein air representations of the You Yangs and these have now become classics of Australian art - rugged, dramatic, yet sparse in their imagery - and unquestionably of the Australian bush.

[edit] Wildlife

The You Yangs is home to more than 200 bird species as well as kangaroos, Sugar Gliders, Brushtail and Ringtail Possums and Koalas. The nearby Serendip Sanctuary, a Victorian government wildlife research centre now open to the public, has been involved in breeding endangered Victorian wildlife species, such as the Australian Bustard.^[8]