Celebrating International Mountain Day: Walking on Country in 2025

Join Great Dividing Trail Association (GDTA) Walks to six iconic Mountains

United Nations International Mountain Day (IMD) is celebrated each year on 11 December. Its goal is to raise awareness about the role that mountains play in the lives of people and their importance to our planet. Barry Golding and Clive Willman made reference in their 2024 book, Six Peaks Speak (Chapter 9) to the serendipitous origins of Mountain Day in the US in Autumn 1838, the exact same time that peaks in the Central Highlands of Victoria were being unsettled.

In 2024, DJAARA, for the Traditional Owners generously invited the community to share their very successful IMD celebration, see https://djadjawurrung.com.au/projects/imd/ in the stunning and culturally significant volcanic crater at Lalkambuk / Mt Franklin.

In 2025, during the week leading up to IMD, the GDTA is organising six interpretive loop walks to the summits of six diverse and special mountains in Victoria’s Central Highlands, within three adjoining First Nations. Here are GDTA’s planned 2025 walk offerings celebrating IMD:

• Sat 6 Dec: Mount Kooyora / Guyura (486m) including Melville Caves in Mt Kooyora State Park, near Dunolly, in central Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Stunning granite landscape. Leader: Barry Golding. 8 km. Medium.
• Sun 7 Dec: Mount Buninyong / Bonan Youang (745m) in Mt Buninyong Scenic Reserve, south of Ballarat in Wadawurrung Country. Amazing volcanic craters, messmate forest & views. Leader: Tim Bach. 10 km. Medium.
• Mon 8 Dec: Mount Steiglitz / Kal Kal Karrah (637m) and the glacial deposits at nearby Pykes Creek. The seldom visited Mt Steiglitz Scenic Reserve north of Ballan in Wurundjeri Country accessed via private land. Overlooking extensive First Nations volcanic plains. Leader: Arie Baelde. 2 km. Steep but Easy.
• Tues 9 Dec (dawn walk): Mt Beckworth / Nyaninuk (629m), within Mt Beckworth Scenic Reserve near Clunes in southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Diverse granite landscape. Leader: Barry Golding. 6 km. Medium.
• Wed 10 Dec: Wombat Hill (670m), a town walk around historic Daylesford in Dja Dja Wurrung Country. The walk will start with a launch of the Lerderderg Track Walk or Ride Guide and conclude with a picnic in Wombat Hill Botanical Gardens. Leader: Tim Bach. 7 km. Medium.
• Thurs 11 Dec (IMD) Blue Mountain / Wuid Krruirk (871m), little known mountain within the proposed Wombat – Lerderderg National Park south of Trentham: on the forested Great Divide, between Dja Dja Wurrung, Wadawurrung & Wurundjeri Country. Leader: Arie Baelde. 10 km. Medium.

Registration will be available for any of these IMD walks two weeks prior to each walk via https://www.gdt.org.au/events . Non-walking club members are welcome, but will bring $10 cash on the day to cover GDTA walker insurance.