Dandenong Ranges

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Dandenong Ranges
Corhanwarrabul, The Dandenongs
Left - Mount Dandenong and right - Mount Corhanwarrabul, viewed from Mooroolbark
Highest point
Peak	Mount Dandenong
Elevation	633 m (2,077 ft)
Coordinates	37°49′38″S 145°21′10″E / 37.82722°S 145.35278°E / -37.82722; 145.35278
Dimensions
Length	50 km (31 mi) N-S
Width	10 km (6.2 mi) E-W
Geography
Dandenong Ranges Location of the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria
Country	Australia
State	Victoria
Range coordinates	37°50′08″S 145°21′33″E / 37.83556°S 145.35917°E / -37.83556; 145.35917
Parent range	Great Dividing Range
Geology
Age of rock	Devonian
Type of rock	Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic

The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately 35 km (22 mi) east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rolling hills, rising to 633 m (2,077 ft) at Mount Dandenong, as well as steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall mountain ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth. The namesaked Dandenong Creek and most of its left-bank tributaries (particularly the Eumemmerring Creek) originate from headwaters in these mountain ranges. Two of Melbourne's most important storage reservoirs, the Cardinia and Silvan Reservoir, are also located within the Dandenongs.

After European settlement in the Port Phillip Bay region, the range was used as a major local source of timber for Melbourne. The ranges were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards. Much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was subsequently expanded in 1997. The range receives light to moderate snowfalls a few times in most years, frequently between late winter and late spring.

Today, The Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and are popular amongst visitors, many of whom stay for the weekend at the various bed & breakfasts throughout the region. The popular Puffing Billy Railway, a heritage steam railway, runs through the hills villages of the eastern Dandenong Ranges.