Australian_Geographic_2015_07-08.

July–August 2015 75

POINTS OF INTEREST

WHEN TO GO

The Dandenong Ranges
are a year-round destina-
tion. Spring and autumn
are the most popular
seasons – especially for
enjoying colourful
European-style gardens. In
summer the shaded forest
walks and picnic grounds
are a welcome refuge.

GETTING THERE

The Dandenong Ranges
are less than an hour’s
drive east of Melbourne.
The Mt Dandenong Tourist
Road links the villages
along the main ridge.
Metro Trains run regular
rail services to Belgrave.

WHERE TO STAY

The ranges offer a huge
array of B & B accommoda-
tion, from secluded cabins
and historic cottages to
modern self-contained
apartments. Many venues
are within walking distance
of the ridgetop villages
and eateries.

A

T 8 00 HA, Sherbrooke is the largest tract of

forest in what’s now the Dandenong Rang-

es NP, which evolved from the 1882 creation

of a reserve in nearby Ferntree Gully. The park, which

now encompasses 3500ha, is a cluster of protected

areas fl anking the Dandenongs’ main 22km north–

south ridge. Interspersed with small villages, roads

and housing subdivisions, this fragmented estate

poses a daily list of challenges for Matt and his rang-

er team. “We have about 40,000 residents in the

area [including] more than 1200 direct neighbours,”

he explains. “But those pressures are off set by having

so many people who are local and who care about

the place.”

At least 23 volunteer groups help drive the commu-

nity push to promote and protect the district’s natural

blessings. They include mobs such as the Sherbrooke

Lyrebird Study Group. Now in its 57th year, the group

helps ensure these valleys continue to resound with

the serenade of their famed ambassador, the superb

lyrebird. By the 1980s the number of individual birds

here had dwindled down to the 30s. Thanks to a con-

certed eff ort that’s included fox-baiting, cat controls

and weed management, these virtuoso songsters now

have a stable population of about 160.

Up close, their forest appears ageless but the

lyrebird’s leafy auditorium is the result of a long

journey of ecological change that began with a

volcanic eruption. About 300 million years ago, four

separate lava fl ows spilled from a nearby volcano to

the present-day township of Olinda. These basalt

Deep within. A new

footbridge at Sherbrooke

Falls is dwarfed by the

cool temperate rainforest

of Sherbrooke Forest.

About face. Cloudehill Nursery and Garden dates back to the
1890s. Its elaborate, many-faceted gardens incorporate more
than 50 engaging artworks and installations.

1 Silvan Reservoir Park

2 SkyHigh Mount Dandenong

3 Olinda Falls

4 William Ricketts Sanctuary

5 Doongalla Homestead

6 National Rhododendron Gardens

7 Cloudehill Garden

8 Burnham Beeches

9 Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens

10 George Tindale Memorial Gardens

11 Sherbrooke Falls

12 Grants Picnic Ground

13 Puffing Billy Railway/Belgrave Station

14 Burrinja Gallery

15 One Thousand Steps Walk

USEFUL LINKS

Dandenong Ranges National Park

http://www.parks.vic.gov.au

Tourism Victoria

http://www.visitvictoria.com

Puffing Billy

http://www.puffingbilly.com.au

Cloudehill Garden

http://www.cloudehill.com.au

Burnham Beeches

http://www.burnhambeeches.com.au

Manor glamour. A Riley saloon at

Mawarra Manor, site of

garden designer Edna

Walling’s fi nest creation.

圀漀爀氀搀䴀愀最猀⸀渀攀琀圀漀爀氀搀䴀愀最猀⸀渀攀琀

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