Koroit lies in south-west Victoria, about 18 kilometres from Warrnambool, with the township on the northern rim of Tower Hill. Large numbers of Irish migrants settled here in the 1840s and 1850s. Bluestone churches, old shopfronts, hotels and the annual Irish festival keep that history highly visible. The surrounding dairy industry also allows Koroit to function as a regional service centre; it is not a themed town sustained only by preserved streetscapes.
Yet beginning the story with Irish settlement cuts the timeline short. Tower Hill is known as Koroitj within the cultural landscape of Eastern Maar peoples. The crater, wetlands, animals and waters held knowledge and relationships long before the colonial township. Parks Victoria and the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation are now working together on the reserve and its visitor centre, including interpretation of eel fishing and aquaculture within this Aboriginal cultural landscape.
Koroit is most revealing where two highly visible local identities operate on very different timescales. Irish migration explains how the colonial town built families, religious institutions, businesses and civic life. Koroitj reminds us that the country beneath those streets was never empty. Renewing the main street, supporting dairy work, staging festivals and interpreting the volcanic reserve all involve choices about which layers of history remain visible.
Respecting Koroit’s Irish heritage therefore does not require making it the only story. A mature account of the town can hold later community belonging and the older, continuing relationships of Country at the same time.
https://moynehealth.vic.gov.au/about-us/
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/Tower-Hill-Wildlife-Reserve
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/news/2024/03/06/01/57/New-facilities-and-new-artwork-for-Tower-Hill
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