Nigretta Falls Wannon River

Nigretta Falls Wannon River 2
There are two stunning waterfalls on the Wannon River. This stream runs west of Hamilton in the Southern Grampians Shire of Victoria’s Western District. The famous Swiss-born artist Abraham-Louis Buvelot painted the Wannon Falls in 1872. In his masterpiece, there is a raging deluge of water. By comparison, the fall I saw in early May 2021 was a modest single stream.

Not far away are the lesser known, but equally spectacular, Nigretta Falls. While the falls are a mere trickle, the surrounding rock formations display every colour of the rainbow. An artist’s delight. The famous Wannon Falls can be viewed from a metal deck jutting out over the deep abyss. In contrast, one can descend to the base of the Nigretta Falls via a long wooden staircase. Both waterfalls flow from a small river with a rocky bed into a huge chasm filled with enormous boulders and a small lake. What geological event shaped this otherwise flat landscape?