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History of the Dandenong Ranges: More
than 300 million years ago a great volcano welled up as a cauldron in
the crust of the earth in the area cantered near the present township of
Olinda. From this cauldron four series of lava flow were extruded. The
first massive flows spread as far north as Coldstream. The second flow
spread southwards past Fern Tree Gully which today is the base of the
ranges as seen from Melbourne. The third lava flow was thinner and
formed a platform between the first two flows. The fourth flow followed
ejection of volcanic ash and was a thick lava which reached as far as
Emerald. After prolonged weathering these rocks broke down to form the
rich soil of the forested ranges. The formations left by the erosion,
forming the subsided mountain and valleys were first settled around
1855.
The first Inhabitants:
The first men to arrive in the Dandenong Ranges were the aborigines.
There may have been two migrations with the first being the smaller
aborigines similar to the Tasmanian aborigines, perhaps 40 – 60,000
years ago, at the time of an ice age when the sea levels where lower
than now and a land bridge existed between Asia and Australia. They were
probably later replaced by the second taller race who by this time, were
unable to cross Bass Strait into Tasmania because of the higher sea
levels. When white man arrived in Victoria in the 1830’s, the
Dandenong's were part of the tribal territory of the Wurundjeri tribe.
They used the Dandenong's as their summer hunting ground and for
gatherings with other adjacent tribes. They came to the hills in search
of rest, coolness or to recover after ill-health or battle. They gave
the hill a name describing the qualities which attracted them to the
place-”Corrhanwarrabul” signifying that this was an attractive place
where birds sang, kangaroos jumped and lyrebirds performed. At this time
the Dandenong's probably had a park like appearance with mighty mountain
ashes soaring up to 100 miters into the sky and grassy glades between
them. Most of the soils in the Dandenong's are volcanic in nature
representing three or more volcanic eruptions. This contributes to the
red earth nature of the soils. Coupled with a rainfall up to 1400 mm in
parts, this produced one of nature’s wonderlands with permanent streams
descending on both the west and the east sides
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