Murphy's Haystacks - South Australia

robbiegoodall

Murphy's Hay Stacks is a fine example of an inselberg formation and is well worth a visit. Murphy's Hay Stacks is located 40 kilometres southeast of Streaky Bay and can be accessed by following the Flinder's Highway and turning onto the Calca - Point Labatt Road. After travelling approximately 1.6 kilometres along a sealed road a picnic area becomes visible.

Murphy's Hay Stacks were weathered and sculpted into their present form about 100,000 years ago. Geologists say the Hay Stacks are composed of pink granite from the Hiltaba suite of rocks whch were laid down some 1500 million years ago. Amazingly these beautiful pink granites were formed at a depth of 7 to 10 kilometres below the earth's surface. Today when we look at Murphy's Hay Stacks we see these Hiltaba granites exposed on the surface. Clearly a very great deal of erosion has occured since the granite's formation.

Local legend says that Murphy's Hay Stacks acquired its name from an Irish agricultural expert who saw this landmark in the distance whilst travelling on a coach. Apparently the learned Irish gentleman was very impressed and informed his fellow passengers that the farmer must have harrowed his land to produce such a great abundance of hay! Well, by now you must have guessed it! The original farmer of the land was a Mr. Murphy and to this day the landmark is known as Murphy's Hay Stacks.

At Murphy's Hay Stacks the traveller can see a variety of inselberg formations including boulders and pillars. Upon entering the viewing area a unique and magnificent Tafoni structure can be seen towering above the walkway. Elsewhere within the viewing area a variety of wave forms and flared rock structures can be seen. These are indicative of ancient physical and chemical weathering processes occuring when soil levels were several metres higher than now.

The rest of the photos from this gallery can be viewed here: http://www.robbiegoodall.com/Landscape/South-Australia/Murphys-Hay-Stacks-South-Australia

Stumblebum

Brilliant

roaddog52

Very cool shots. Really like all the shapes and textures. B&W conversion works very nicely for these images. I also appreciate your explanation of the geology.

Phil

black mamba

Nice work. I, too, appreciate the history behind these formations. I recently went to the Acadia National Park in Maine, U.S. I hiked to the top of Cadillac Mountain within the park.....wish I had driven up....and was very surprised and interested to find that the mountain was formed of pink granite. I don't know how rare pink granite structures ( from Hay Stacks to mountains ) are, but the stone has quite a different appearance from " normal " granite that I'm familiar with. Thanks for sharing.

Tom