Our route south along the Flinders Highway towards Coffin bay took us past some strange natural features standing in two distinct groups on a hill surrounded by wheat fields known as Murphy’s Haystacks. These are actually ancient granite inselbergs dating back 1,500 million years. Their formation are pillars and boulders (German meaning island and mountain) is caused by uneven weathering of the crystalline rock and fracturing of the cracks to separate these rocks. They have been exposed by thousands of years of erosion of the surrounding land surface along this exposed coastline.
You must be wondering why Murphy’s haystacks? Well local legend says that over two hundred years ago a Scottish agricultural merchant saw these pillars from a distance and thought they looked like haystacks. The farmer whose land they were on was called Denis Murphy, so the name stuck and was passed down through history as they became known as Murphy’s Haystacks! Strange but true!
Walking to the first group, distinctive forms on the hill known as Murphy's Haystacks
Walking to second group of Murphy's Haystacks
Like sentinels on the hill
They look like giant rock mushrooms