The Governor Fault marks the northern margin of the Mebourne Zone, and southern margin of the Tabberabberan Orogeny, and is characterised by strike-slip movement. By the Middle Devonian, the Baragwanath Transform became extinct. Rifting also occurred in this period, leading to volcanism. One of the major strike-slip faults accommodating this deformation is the Baragwanath Transform a transform fault. Crustal deformation were later accommodated by predominantly strike-slip faulting in the Devonian. From the Neoproterozoic to Early Devonian, the region was dominated by thrusting and some rifting. This zone formed as a result of plate convergence occurring at the eastern boundary of the supercontinent Gondwana during the Neoproterozoic. The earthquake is situated in the Lachlan Fold Belt, an orogenic belt consisting of folded and faulted strata. In Australia, earthquakes occurring within the Australian Plate are known as intraplate earthquakes because they happen within a tectonic plate rather than at the boundary. Such earthquakes at the plate boundary are known as interplate earthquakes. The Australian landmass is situated in the Australian Plate, far from any known active plate boundary, where most of the world's earthquakes occur. The earthquake was substantially stronger than the 1989 Newcastle earthquake that measured 5.6 and killed 13 people. The earthquake was also felt in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania. The earthquake caused minor structural damage in parts of Melbourne and left one person injured. The earthquake measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale.

Victorian earth quake