Starting Point of the Dandenong Ranges Trail

Gembrook is a lovely quiet town that deserves more time than most people provide.  It is a true country town, far enough from the city to be largely left to itself.  If you find yourself here on the 4th Sunday of the month (excluding December) the Gembrook Market will be in full swing and worth visiting.  Hours 9am-2pm. Location: Gembrook Community Centre on Gembrook Rd (about 450m from Gembrook Station). 

This area is within the territory of the Wurundjeri Tribe, one of the five subdivisions that form the Woiwurrung or Kulin Nation.  The Woiwurrung region includes all of the Dandenong Ranges as well as the flatlands to the east as far as the junction of the Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers just west of the Melbourne CBD.

In the 1850s the first miners arrived searching for gemstones and gold.  Though there was little in the way of success the town’s name was given when three prospectors found gemstones in a brook to the south of the current town.

The real wealth, however, lay in the form of huge tracts of forest full of hardwood trees that were ready to be exploited.  The sound of saws and axes echoed throughout the hills as the timber industry flourished.  Gembrook was formally founded in 1874 and the town developed along with the timber industry.

Once land was cleared, dairying, potato farming and timber milling became the mainstays of the local industry.  More than sixty sawmills operated in the surrounding forests and a network of timber tramways took the sawn timber to the railhead at Gembrook when the train line reached here in 1900.  You will notice as you walk out into the countryside surrounding Gembrook that cattle and potato farming are still important to the town.

The opening of the railway also brought tourism with Melbournians visiting the hills on weekends.  Cabins and guesthouses were built and some residents opened their homes in the peak season to holidaymakers.

Gembrook has been lucky to never have been destroyed by fires, unlike its near neighbour of Cockatoo.  This means that there are many original buildings surviving in the town.  The Ranges Hotel across the road from the train station as well as a number of shops in the main street are great examples of turn of the century buildings.  (The Hotel burned down in 2018 in an accidental fire seemingly started in the laundry.)

The last train departed Gembrook in 1953 when the line after Ferntree Gully was closed.  As Puffing Billy was restored progressively over the years it finally returned to Gembrook in October 1998 to great celebration.  (See Puffing Billy history section for more.)

If you have travelled to Gembrook on Puffing Billy enjoy a little bit of time in town before heading off on your walk.  There are plenty of places to eat including The Independent which has been beautifully installed into an old garage.  There is a supermarket, cafes, bakery, antiques, and other shops to keep your interest for a nice stroll around town.