Brown coal specimen.
Image: Jon Augier
Source: Museum Victoria
Brown coal specimen.
Image: Jon Augier
Source: Museum Victoria
The brown coal deposits in the Latrobe Valley are the largest of their type in the world. They formed over a period of 30 million years as vegetation from luxuriant forests accumulated and decomposed in swamps as the Gippsland Basin subsided. The swamps began to dry about 10 million years ago and were covered by sediments.