South of Mount Gambier, a near-perfect cone rises from the plain. Mount Schank is among the youngest volcanoes on the Australian mainland, and you can climb its rim.
A cone on the plain
Drive south from Mount Gambier toward the coast and a near-perfect volcanic cone rises abruptly from the flat farmland. This is Mount Schank, and it is startlingly young: part of the same volcanic province that gave Mount Gambier its crater lakes, it erupted in the geological blink of an eye.
The climb
A steep, stepped track leads up the outer flank to the rim. From the top you can walk around the crater and look down into the bowl, then out across the coastal plain toward Port MacDonnell and back to Mount Gambier.
It's a short climb but a steep one, and the reward is one of the clearest views of the region's volcanic story you'll find anywhere.
The bigger picture
Standing on the rim, the whole landscape clicks into place: the crater lakes to the north, the flat limestone plain, the line of the coast. Mount Schank is the quiet companion to Mount Gambier's fame, and well worth the legs.
