The Dandenongs are an idyllic nature reserve located just outside Melbourne. Home to echidnas, wombats and cool temperate rainforest.

Visitors can discover the area by taking hiking tours that feature waterfalls and historical landmarks, or enjoying gallery art displays and strolling through picturesque hill stations.

This region is also well known for its English gardens and can be reached via the Puffing Billy Railway.

History of Dandenong Station

Dandenong Station is located at the southern edge of Dandenong’s CBD and acts as an interchange station for Pakenham, Cranbourne and V/Line regional trains traveling on Melbourne-Gippsland line. Travel time by stopping all-station train is roughly 50 minutes; limited express services offer even faster journey times.

Prior to the arrival of a railway line, Dandenong was an active agricultural and commercial area. Farmers brought their livestock and produce to local markets on Lonsdale Street (cattle market) and Cleeland Street (produce market). These markets helped expand Dandenong into an important regional center in Victoria.

With the arrival of rail transport, the economy shifted toward service industries and industrial development. Local factories like General Motors Holden and International Harvester employed large workforces resulting in population boom.

Gippsland became synonymous with Gippsland Town due to the presence of stock and produce markets which became an annual family gathering place on market days; these markets also provided vital links between farmers from throughout Victoria and Victoria itself and Gippsland.

By the 1930s, Dandenong had become one of Victoria’s fastest-growing suburbs. Its central business district featured an expansive retail complex, regional police headquarters and Magistrates Court as well as being home to an important hospital and its associated services as well as a TAFE college.

Today, the town still retains some of its regional appeal, drawing shoppers from throughout Greater Melbourne. It also hosts an important regional shopping centre as well as being home to Melbourne’s railway and bus interchange.

Dandenong’s main street underwent an unprecedented $20 million makeover between 2010-2011. This landmark project involved increased lighting, a special colonnade of colored feature lights along the center median, wider footpaths and planting of 260 Pin Oak trees as well as water sustainability features.

History of Dandenong Town

Dandenong rapidly expanded from a township into a suburb, then city in the 1890s due to the introduction of a railway station offering direct access from Melbourne and encouraging industrialization along its routes; including timber milling and window frame production.

This area was well served by other transport links as well. A network of railway branches connected the region’s towns and villages to Melbourne; road networks were well established, with wheel tracks often visible on road surfaces; wheel tracks from wheeled vehicles often passing over surface roads; while one of the earliest community institutions, known as the Mechanics Institute was founded in 1863 as a modest timber structure which later doubled in size to become town hall.

Other early businesses included a butter factory and the Gippsland Cooperative Bacon Curing Company of Dandenong for curing bacon; Ordish Brick Company produced fire bricks from local clay deposits; as well as Hugh Murray’s Harrow Manufacturing business which complemented rural activities.

As people from around the world settled here, bringing with them their religious and cultural institutions, the city quickly evolved into an international metropolis – eventually boasting over 137 nationalities living here by 1990 alone!

During the 1920s, Dandenong’s popularity as a weekend retreat led to an explosion of cottage gardens, large country houses such as Burnham Beeches at Sherbrooke and humbler weekend shacks in villages such as Monbulk, Emerald and Gembrook. Markets opened frequently in Dandenong for urban populations as an additional source of fruit and vegetables.

Today, Dandenong remains an essential regional activity center. Its large shopping complex draws shoppers from throughout Victoria and Victoria Police headquarters, Magistrates Court and major hospital are headquartered here as well as planned TAFE college and university facilities; population projections suggest significant growth over the next 10 years in Dandenong.

However, for Dandenong to achieve its ambition of becoming Melbourne’s second city it will require more white-collar jobs in the area. Du believes that having access to university, medical facilities and an increased corporate activity would enable it to quickly grow while attracting international retailers to open in Dandenong.

History of the Dandenong Ranges National Park

Dandenong Ranges are located right outside Melbourne and provide an idyllic rainforest escape. As part of the Great Dividing Range, these steep volcanic hills boast dense temperate rainforest dominated by tall mountain ash trees and thick ferns – as well as orchard fruits, flowers, garden crops, dairy products and berries produced here. Their name derives from an aboriginal term meaning lofty; with almost twice the rainfall than surrounding coastal plain areas.

As well as its rich native flora, Dandenongs Park boasts an abundance of wildlife – swamp wallabies, lyrebirds and cockatoos can often be seen frolicking through its woodlands, while rare Powerful Owls may roost nightly. Exploring Dandenongs Hills is easy – simply catch a train to Upper Ferntree Gully or Belgrave and hop on one of Monbulk or Montrose buses into the hills!

Dandenong Ranges have long been an invaluable source of timber, agricultural produce, leisure and tourism since European colonization began. Foothill areas first were settled by squatters before later by European settlers who cleared large tracts for farming and timber felling in the 1830s. Botanist Daniel Bunce was among those first to explore this mountain region extensively and compile records of both its flora and fauna.

Tourism began to develop rapidly by the late 1860s as people discovered its fresh air and breathtaking views of Melbourne from Ferntree Gully’s hills villages, Olinda, Sherbrooke and Ferntree Gully. Hotels and guesthouses quickly opened to serve wealthy clients seeking respite. A narrow-gauge railway called ‘Puffing Billy” provided transport from Melbourne into these hill villages.

Dandenong Ranges National Park is an outstanding recreational space, offering activities to suit every taste. Popular activities in this park include bushwalking and picnicking as well as mountain biking and horseback riding. Home to an abundance of wildlife such as swamp wallabies, echidnas, wombats as well as kangaroos, fallow deer and sugar gliders as well as many bird species like lyrebirds, cockatoos and crimson rosellas among many others!

History of William Rickett’s Sanctuary

Mount Dandenong lies east of Melbourne and features a garden that feels like a fairy tale kingdom: William Ricketts Sanctuary. Here stands an enchanted landscape where 92 sculptures seem to emerge from its forests along mystical pathways and celebrate one man’s lifetime of work in clay sculpture.

William Ricketts was an exceptional clay sculptor who purchased land in the Dandenong Ranges to pursue his art. Spending time with indigenous groups from Arrente and Pitjantjatjara communities had helped shape his view of nature and humanity’s place within it, which manifested in his art work.

He designed gardens with Indigenous themes and an Australian-Aboriginal aesthetic in mind, reflecting his view that “all life is one”. Each rock in his designs was meticulously modelled in clay before being placed onto the landscape as proof.

Gardens were popular tourist draws, helping the local economy by drawing in visitors from across Australia and beyond. Bed and breakfasts and weekend shacks dotted hills villages while Puffing Billy Railway provided transport service for tourists who visited. Its fertile soil and abundance of native timber (gum, stringy bark and box) also played a vital role in agriculture – with this wood also used for construction, tanning, brick making and firewood production – providing ample revenue streams.

Forests were home to many native Australian mammals, birds and reptiles native to Australia. Early European settlers of foothill areas hunted possums and lyrebirds while timber-getters penetrated more rugged terrain later. Botanist Daniel Bunce made extensive records of Dandenongs flora and fauna during his travels through them during the 1840s; today its rich biodiversity still attracts many visitors for recreational and cultural purposes alike; its forests serve as important homes for endangered wildlife such as koalas and kangaroos among others.