Mount Imlay – Balawan Summit walking track

Mount Imlay is known to local Aboriginal people as 'Balawan', and is a place of great spiritual significance. The mountain, surrounding gullies, forest and animals that make their home here are important to local Aboriginal culture and spiritual teachings.

Mount Imlay is named after the three Imlay brothers, who played an important part in opening the Eden-Monaro district to European settlement in the 1830s and 40s. Alexander, Peter and George Imlay arrived in Australia from Scotland in 1829, 1830 and 1833 respectively. Within a few years, they had established whaling, pastoral and trading enterprises near Twofold Bay at Eden and on the Monaro plains.

Many of the animals that make Mount Imlay their home are nocturnal, like the eastern pygmy-possum. But during the day, you could see red-necked wallabies, swamp wallabies, wombats and bush rats. If you're really lucky, you might even spot threatened species like the long-nosed potoroo, koala or the tiger quoll. Mount Imlay is a fantastic place for birdwatching, and you'll find a variety of birds like honeyeaters, currawongs and tree-creepers. As you wander through the forest, keep your ears and eyes out for lyrebirds fossicking in the understorey. And with a bit of luck, you might spot threatened species like the olive whistler, sooty owl and glossy black cockatoo. Mount Imlay is a botanical treasure of the far south east, where you'll find a number of threatened or biogeographically significant plant species, including the extremely rare Mount Imlay mallee and endangered Mount Imlay boronia. The bushland here also supports many native wildflowers, which come to life in spring and colour the bushland with purple, pink, yellow, white and red flowers.