Christmas Hills, Victoria

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Christmas Hills
Melbourne, Victoria
Population: 566 (2006) [1]
Established: 1884
Postcode: 3775
Elevation: 152 m (499 ft)
Location: 44 km (27 mi) from Melbourne
LGA: Shire of Nillumbik
State District: Yan Yean
Federal Division: McEwen
Suburbs around Christmas Hills:
Smiths Gully Smiths Gully St Andrews
Panton Hill Christmas Hills Yarra Glen
Kangaroo Ground Bend of Islands Yering

Christmas Hills is a large locality north-east of Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, Australia, and is located between Kangaroo Ground and Yarra Glen along Eltham-Yarra Glen Road (State Route C726) north of the Yarra River in the Dandenong Ranges. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Nillumbik. In 1904, the Australian Handbook described Christmas Hills as "an excellent health resort".

The locality is very hilly, with One Tree Hill in the northwest rising to 372 m above sea level, and is home to several reserves including One Tree Hill Reserve and Sugarloaf Reservoir Park, opened in 1980 and managed by Melbourne Water.

Contents

[edit] History

Christmas Hills owes its name to an emancipated convict and shepherd, David Christmas, who became lost on a 640 acre grazing lease in the area in 1842, and was found after days of wandering at a rise which was subsequently named after him. The area was considered to have poor quality soil, although nearby settlers earned an income from chopping firewood in the sclerophyll forests.

Gold was discovered at One Tree Hill in 1859, fuelling a brief goldrush. Quartz reef operations ended in 1864, and alluvial mining continued until 1908.

The area grew considerably in the 1870s - at one point the town had two hotels, two schools, a post office and a Mechanics' Institute.[2] In 1884, a primary school was built, and by 1912, when the railway from Heidelberg to Hurstbridge was built, the area had a population of 146 and had become a tourist destination, popular with Melburnians seeking "clean air and an invigorating climate".[3]

In 1893, 1939 and 1962, the area suffered from destructive bushfires.

[edit] Present day

Christmas Hills today is a large area encompassing several districts.

[edit] Christmas Hills township

The Christmas Hills township consists of a cluster of homes, a public hall, a tennis court, a memorial park with World War I monument and a fire brigade shed, erected after the 1939 bushfires. About 1 km to the west is Christmas Hills Primary School, first established in 1884, with a current enrolment of 22 students.[4]

[edit] Rob Roy

Rob Roy ( 37°38′56″S, 145°17′10″S) in the western part is used for a range of hill racing events by the MG Car Club of Victoria[5]. It was first established in 1937 by motoring enthusiasts and the Light Car Club for hill-racing motorbikes and cars and was utilised as a venue well into the postwar years. It was burnt out in 1962, but the track was later bitumenised.

[edit] Watsons Creek

Further west along Eltham-Yarra Glen Road is Watsons Creek ( 37°40′12″S, 145°15′21″E), which was named after Sandy Watson, who farmed fat cattle and sold butter and meat to the miners on the One Tree Hill, Happy Valley and Queenstown diggings.[6] The Watsons Creek Antiques and Cafe is the primary business in the area, specialising in Edwardian and Victorian furniture and china, and also offering B&B-style accommodation.[7]

[edit] One Tree Hill

One Tree Hill ( 37°37′59″S, 145°18′36″S), a former mining area in northwestern Christmas Hills, is now a 143 hectare reserve managed by Parks Victoria. Its main features are Happy Valley Creek, which runs through the reserve, and the 372 m One Tree Hill in the northeast. According to the Land Conservation Council of Victoria[8], it has been assessed as "being of State botanical significance for its ecological integrity and viability, rarity and representation of community types", and is home to 22 species assessed as regionally threatened, rare or restricted in the greater Melbourne area, including roosting colonies of Large Bent-wing Bat and Eastern Horseshoe Bat, and the Powerful Owl, Brush-tailed Phascogale and Barking Owl[9]. The LCC reports that 79 bird, 24 mammal, 7 reptile and 7 frog species have been recorded in the reserve.

[edit] Sugarloaf Reservoir

Sugarloaf Reservoir at just under half capacity
Sugarloaf Reservoir at just under half capacity

Sugarloaf Reservoir ( 37°40′30″S, 145°17′33″E) is a 440-hectare reservoir which has a total water capacity of 96,000 megalitres, and was developed in the late 1970s and completed in 1981. It is managed by Melbourne Water and supplies scheme water to Melbourne's northern, western and inner suburbs[10]. Sugarloaf is fed by the Maroondah Aqueduct and the Yarra River, and before entering the domestic water supply, water is treated at the Winneke Water Treatment Plant on the south bank of the reservoir to World Health Organisation guidelines. The main dam is 89 m high and 1,050 m long.

Around the reservoir is the Sugarloaf Reservoir Park, which opened in 1982 and is managed by Parks Victoria. The park's entrance, open during most daylight hours, is 1.2 km off Eltham-Yarra Glen Road, and barbecue and picnic facilities are available at Saddle Dam south-east of the dam wall (Ridge Park was closed for works in June 2006), and several walking trails can be used with permission of Parks Victoria. Watercraft are only permitted to launch from the Sugarloaf Sailing Club on the north bank, and sail boards, keel boats and/or craft with cabins, cooking or toilet facilities are not permitted on the Reservoir.[11] The area is home to Eastern Grey Kangaroos, echidnas, Wedge-tailed Eagles, Crimson Rosellas and other wildlife. Vegetation ranges from grassland, having been cleared for agriculture in the decades prior to the reservoir's construction, to dry forest.

[edit] Transport

Christmas Hills is not accessible by Melbourne public transport.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Christmas Hills (State Suburb). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
  2. ^ Eltham District Historical Society Inc. A Chronology of Known Local Events 1835-2000, 2. ISBN 0-9577198-1-7. Retrieved on 2006-11-25. 
  3. ^ Shire of Nillumbik. Areas and townships - Christmas Hills. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  4. ^ Schools Online listing, Department of Education (Victoria). Accessed 25 November 2006.
  5. ^ MG Car Club Victoria. MG Events Calendar. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  6. ^ Shire of Nillumbik. Areas and townships - Watsons Creek. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  7. ^ Watsons Creek Antiques and Cafe (business page)
  8. ^ Land Conservation Council [1994] (1997). Melbourne area, district 2 review : final recommendations, 129.  Available at Redmond Barry Reading Room, State Library of Victoria.
  9. ^ Beardsall, Campbell. Sites of faunal and habitat significance in North East Melbourne. Greensborough, VIC: Nillumbik Shire Council.  (131 pages) Available at State Library of Victoria.
  10. ^ Melbourne Water (September 2005). Essential Facts - Sugarloaf Reservoir. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
  11. ^ Sugarloaf Sailing Club

[edit] External links

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Suburbs of the Shire of Nillumbik | Melbourne | Victoria

Christmas Hills • Cottles Bridge • Diamond Creek • Doreen • Eltham • Eltham North • Hurstbridge • Kangaroo Ground • Nutfield • Panton Hill • Plenty • Research • Smiths Gully • St Andrews • Warrandyte North • Wattle Glen • Yarrambat •