Sassafras is a locality and township within
Greater Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metrop ...
, beyond the Melbourne metropolitan area Urban Growth Boundary, 43 km east of Melbourne's
Central Business District, located within the
City of Knox
The City of Knox is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in 2020, Knox had a population of 165,147. This municipality is one of only a handful that survived the widespread mu ...
and
Shire of Yarra Ranges
The Shire of Yarra Ranges, also known as Yarra Ranges Council, is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. It has an ...
local government areas. Sassafras recorded a population of 970 at the
2021 census.
[
]
Location
The Sassafras village is located at an altitude of approximately 500 metres, in a saddle on the top of the ridgeline of the Dandenong Ranges, a few kilometres south of the highest peak of Mount Dandenong
Mount Dandenong is a small township/suburb of Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Mount Dandenong recorded a population of 1,2 ...
.
The locality of Sassafras extends from Hilton Road in the south, to just north of the village. In the east, it extends down the Sassafras Gully, whilst to the West much of the locality is within the Dandenong Ranges National Park
The Dandenong Ranges National Park is a national park located in the Greater Melbourne region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated from at its westernmost points at Ferntree Gully and Boronia to at it easternmost point at Si ...
.
History
The area was named Sassafras Gully, after the sassafras
''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle ...
trees which grow in gully along Sassafras Creek. The land was opened to small scale farming in 1893 and a small township developed. The Post Office opened on 1 June 1901 and has always been known as Sassafras Gully. The Sassafras Primary School was established in 1894, originally meeting in a bark slab hut, before relocating to the Sassafras Mechanics Institute hall in 1895.[Smith, Rowan. Heart of the Hills, Published by the author, 201]
Copy on Scribd.
/ref> The school moved to its present site in 1915. In the early 1900s tourism began to increase and the township consequently grew. Artist Henrietta Maria Gulliver
Henrietta Maria Gulliver (29 October 1866 – 15 July 1945) was an Australian artist who specialized in landscape and floral still-life paintings. She was also a florist, horticulturalist and landscape designer.
Life and Family
Henrietta grew ...
established a garden estate called Panteg there in 1915. Today Sassafras is a tourist destination with several boutique stores including Devonshire tea outlets, cafés, toy shops, antique shop
An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops can be located either locally or, with the advent of the Internet, found online.
An antiques shop can also be located within an ant ...
s and nurseries.
The area has had a history of bushfires
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...
, and areas near the town are known to have burnt since the 1850s, most recently in 1962.
Waterways
Sassafras village is on the watershed between the Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower s ...
Catchment and the Dandenong Creek
The Dandenong Creek ( Aboriginal Bunwurrung: ''Narra Narrawong'' or ''Dandinnong'') is an urban creek of the Port Phillip
Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast ...
. Sassafras Creek is located to the east of the township while tributaries of the Dandenong Creek are west and north of the township. Both creeks provide important corridors for native flora and fauna, and are both largely protect by parklands.
Sassafras Creek flows generally east until it meets Ti-Tree Creek, where they joint to form the Woori Yallock Creek. Woori-Yallock Creek then flows northward to eventually join the Yarra River next to the Warramate Nature Conservation Reserve. Sassafras Creek's Riparian Zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...
is almost entirely protected by public land, which in this case is Dandenong Ranges National Park
The Dandenong Ranges National Park is a national park located in the Greater Melbourne region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated from at its westernmost points at Ferntree Gully and Boronia to at it easternmost point at Si ...
.
Tributaries of the Dandenong Creek rise on the western face of the Dandenong Ranges and flow west to Dandenong Creek, where it flows southward into the Patterson River
The Patterson River is a partly man-made urban river of the Port Phillip catchment in the Australian east coast state of Victoria, located in the outer southeastern suburbs of the Greater Melbourne region. Under the name "Patterson", it is t ...
and then into Port Phillip Bay
Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is compl ...
at Patterson Lakes
Patterson Lakes is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Patterson Lakes recorded a population of 7,793 at the 2021 census ...
.
Natural environment
Sassafras Creek is protected by the Sassafras Creek Nature Conservation Reserve, which is nowadays incorporated into the Dandenong Ranges National Park.
Sassafras has many exotic flora largely due to the fertile volcanic soils. Most private land contains exotic flora.
The Dandenong Ranges tourist Track, a walking trail, runs for 15km alongside the Sassafras Creek, past Kallista and Monbulk to Emerald.Dandenong Ranges Tourist Track – Sassafras to Emerald – 15 km one way
Explore the Dandenongs
See also
*Shire of Sherbrooke
The Shire of Sherbrooke was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of , and existed from 1963 until 1994. Its largest population centre was the town of Belgrave.
H ...
– Sassafras was previously within this former local government area.
* Geography of the Yarra River
* Dandenong Creek Trail
References
External links
Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges - Sassafras
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City of Knox
Yarra Ranges