Parking
Car park off Mount Zero Road on Heatherlie Track, reached from Mount Zero Road via an unsealed road. The walk starts at the car park and loops through the quarry township.
Overview
About Heatherlie Quarry Township Walk
Why go
- Historic structures
- Short accessible loop
Heads up
- No panoramic lookouts
Large quantities of freestone sandstone were cut here from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth. The stone went into buildings in Stawell and into major works including Melbourne's Parliament House. The township was surveyed in 1887, the railway opened in 1882 and closed in 1941, and quarrying continued on and off until the mid-1980s. What remains is a bushland site at the edge of the Mount Difficult Range, more industrial history than mountain scenery.
Parkwolf’s verdictWhy It MattersMap & elevation
The route
Loading the Grampians map
Full mapElevation216–269 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
5 active Grampians alerts
- ClosureBushfire-damaged walks and picnic area remain closedThe Fortress, Red Gum, Billimina, Chimney Pots and Brownings Loop walks, plus Mafeking Picnic Area, remain closed because of track or site damage from the 2024/25 summer bushfires.Official details
- ClosureMackenzie Falls precinct closed during constructionThe Mackenzie Falls (Migunang wirab) Precinct has no vehicle or visitor access during major construction works expected to finish by the end of 2026.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Grampians Tour Guide
Your drive to Heatherlie Quarry Township Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Grampians National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Heatherlie Quarry: Stone, Steam and Rails0:00 / 0:45
“Heatherlie Quarry's walking car park is coming up, and this is an underrated stop if you enjoy old machinery and the stories behind it. Give the steam plant and rail remnants some attention as well as the quarry face.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Grampians Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Leaf Suspended in Silk
- Tiny Tents on Gum Leaves
- The Quarry Railway
- A Smaller Summit Near Dunkeld
- 233 audio storiesacross Grampians’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Short-beaked Echidna, Powerful Owl, Wedge-tailed Eagle, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 81 trails, 62 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Heatherlie Quarry Township Walk
The BasicsLoop walk, signed as 2.
- Loop walk, signed as 2.4 km total return from the car park; the mapped line comes in a little shorter at about 2.1 km, so treat the official figure as the one to plan on.
- Allow about 1.25 hours, which leaves time to read the interpretive signs and poke around the ruins.
- Difficulty 3/10, easy, with no sustained climbing.
The RouteThe walk starts and finishes at the car park on Heatherlie Track and runs through the former…
The walk starts and finishes at the car park on Heatherlie Track and runs through the former quarry township in a continuous circuit. Along the way you pass stone workers cottages, old machinery, a powder magazine, the power plant site and rail and tram remnants, with information signs explaining what you are looking at. There are picnic tables at the site. Underfoot it is a mix of unsealed track and compacted path with some uneven ground, a short boardwalk and stone steps.
Access And ConditionsPark at the car park off Mount Zero Road on Heatherlie Track; roads in this northern part of…
- Park at the car park off Mount Zero Road on Heatherlie Track; roads in this northern part of the park are mainly unsealed.
- The walk is often described as easy and suitable for prams and wheelchairs, but the short boardwalk and stone steps mean not every metre is level or barrier free. Check what suits your group before setting out.
- Mobile coverage is unavailable in many areas here. Plan around the forecast and be back from your walk before dusk.
- Dogs are not allowed in this national park. Separate entry requirements apply to assistance dogs.
Honest DrawbacksThere are no panoramic lookouts on this walk and nothing dramatic in terms of terrain, so it…
There are no panoramic lookouts on this walk and nothing dramatic in terms of terrain, so it appeals most if you enjoy ruins, machinery and reading the story of a place. Facilities are limited to the picnic tables and signage at the site. If you want a bigger walk in the same trip, pair it with one of the other northern-area routes rather than expecting a full day here.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Grampians
157 sightingsShort-beaked EchidnaMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
37 sightingsPowerful OwlMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
59 sightingsWedge-tailed EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
24 sightingsEastern Brown SnakeMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
10 sightingsTiger SnakeMost seen around noonSighting map
29 sightingsRed-bellied Black SnakeMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Grampians. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
