Sassafras, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Melbourne city centre
Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...
. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges
Shire of Yarra Ranges
The Yarra Ranges Shire 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...
. At the 2006 Census, Sassafras had a population of 968. It is located at an altitude of approximately 500 metres, near the top of the ridgeline of the Dandenong Ranges
Dandenong Ranges
The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
, a few kilometres south of the highest peak of Mount Dandenong.
The area was named Sassafras Gully, after the trees which grew in the area. 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. In the early 1900s tourism began to increase and the township consequently grew. Today Sassafras is a tourist destination with several boutique stores including Devonshire tea
Cream tea
A cream tea, Devonshire tea, Devon cream tea or Cornish cream tea is tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted cream, and jam....
outlets, antique shops and nurseries. Sassafras is home to an alternative school, Sherbrooke Community School.
The area has had a history of bushfires, and areas near the town are known to have been burned out since the 1850s.
Waterways
Sassafras is between the Yarra River Catchment and the Dandenong Creek. Sassafras creek is located to the east of the township. While tributries of the Dandenong creek are West and North of the township. Both creeks provide important coridoors which are both largely protect by parklands.Sassafras Creek flows into Woori-yallock creek which eventually flows into the Yarra River next to the Warramate Nature Conservation Reserve. Sassafras creek's Riparian Zone is almost entirely protected by public land, which in this case is Dandenong Ranges National Park.
Dandenong Creek flows straight into Port Phillip Bay at Patterson Lakes. But can be known as Patternson River near the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. Dandenong Creek has been chanelled for several kilometers towards it mouth.