 According to Federation University's "Ballarat and District Industrial Heritage Project", Black Hill was known by the local Watha Warrung as 'Bowdun', which was the original name given by the surveyor William Urquart in 1851.The subtitle 'Black Hill' was given by Urquart in reference to the dense canopy of trees.However, extensive mining over the 1850s saw the hill stripped of trees and significantly reduced in height, as well as the creation of a valley.