The Dandenong Ranges: Melbourne's Fern Gully Hinterland

The Dandenong Ranges, the low forested hills 40 kilometres east of Melbourne that rise to 633 metres at the Doongalla Peak and cover the ranges with the mountain ash forest, the tree fern gullies, and the English-style gardens that the cool, moist climate sustains, provide Melbourne with the accessible nature escape that the day trip or the weekend in the hills delivers to the city's population seeking the contrast between the urban heat island and the forest quiet that the ranges provide. The Dandenongs' character, shaped by the English heritage that the early settlers brought to the garden villages of Sassafras, Olinda, and Emerald and the native forest that surrounds them, creates the unique landscape where the English cottage garden and the Australian mountain ash forest coexist in the same visual field.

The Puffing Billy Railway, the narrow-gauge heritage railway that runs from Belgrave on the metropolitan rail network through the Ranges to Gembrook, provides the heritage railway experience that the restored steam locomotives and the open-sided carriages through the fern gullies deliver to the families and the heritage railway enthusiasts who make Puffing Billy one of Melbourne's most visited tourist attractions. The railway's century of operation, including the restoration from closure in the 1950s by the volunteer preservation society that has maintained and expanded the railway since, creates the heritage community as well as the tourist attraction.

The Olinda-Sassafras Village centres, the commercial strips of these Ranges townships where the nurseries, the galleries, the antique shops, and the tearooms that the weekend visitor market sustains create the village character that the Dandenongs tourism economy depends on, provide the shopping and dining destinations that complement the forest walks and the garden visits of the Ranges day trip. The quality of the food at the best Ranges restaurants and cafes, reflecting the standard that the Melbourne food culture that the Ranges visitor brings, sustains a hospitality quality level above what comparable country towns far from a major city can maintain.

The William Ricketts Sanctuary at Mount Dandenong, the outdoor sculpture park created by the artist William Ricketts across 40 years of working in the forest that he made his studio and his home, provides the art and nature experience unique to the Dandenongs. The ceramic figures of Aboriginal faces and figures that emerge from the trees, the rocks, and the fern gullies of Ricketts' forest garden create the environmental artwork that has no parallel in Australia and that the Parks Victoria management that has continued the sanctuary since Ricketts' death in 1993 maintains with the respect that the artist's vision deserves.

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