Up in the Hills: The Story of Upper Ferntree Gully
Nestled at the feet of the mighty Dandenong Ranges, Upper Ferntree Gully is a suburb of Melbourne that carries both the calm of the bush and the bustle of suburban life. Located about 32 km east of Melbourne’s CBD, it spans the City of Knox and the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
Today you’ll find a quiet train station (on the Belgrave line), leafy streets, family homes, some older cottages and a strong connection to nature. Many residents call it simply “Upper Gully” and cherish the bushland, creeks and tree-fern gullies that permeate the suburb.
With local cafés, a hospital (Angliss Hospital, established in 1939), community groups, sporting clubs and heritage buildings, the place wears many hats: bushland retreat, commuter suburb, historic village and local hub.
But of course, Upper Ferntree Gully wasn’t always this way. Its story begins long before suburban streets, with Indigenous Country, European timber cutters, railway pioneers, day-trippers and eventually full-blown suburban expansion. Let’s take a stroll back through time.
Upper Ferntree Gully Through Time: A Timeline
Upper Ferntree Gully: A Hillside Village with a Long Memory
Upper Ferntree Gully – or “Upper Gully” to the locals – sits right where suburbia meets mountain. About 32 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD, it’s a small suburb tucked against the lower slopes of the Dandenong Ranges, with the forest rising steeply behind it and the city spreading out in front.
Today, Upper Gully feels like a little village wrapped around a railway station and a highway. There’s the familiar hum of commuter life – trains on the Belgrave line, traffic along Burwood Highway, people ducking into cafés before work – but if you look up, you see tall gums, mist drifting through the trees, and ridgelines that remind you the mountains are very close.
The suburb has a modest shopping pocket, community services, Angliss Hospital on the hill, and Kings Park down by the creek where local sport, events and weekend walks come together. A few streets away, Ferntree Gully Park and the famous 1000 Steps (Kokoda Track Memorial Walk) draw walkers from all over Melbourne, starting their climb from the edge of Upper Ferntree Gully into the cool fern gullies above.
Housing here is a mix of older weatherboards, post-war brick homes and more recent units. It’s not a huge suburb – only a few thousand residents – but that’s part of its charm. People tend to know the local shop owners, keep an eye on the weather rolling in over the range, and talk about life in terms of “down the Gully” and “up the hill”.
But like most foothill places, Upper Ferntree Gully carries more than one story at once. Beneath the commuter timetables and café chalkboards, there is Wurundjeri Country, old farms, timber tracks, guesthouses, steam trains, a small bush hospital that grew into a modern medical centre, and decades of community life. To understand how Upper Gully ended up as the suburb it is today, it helps to walk back through time.
Upper Ferntree Gully Through Time: A Timeline
Before Colonisation: Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country
Long before anyone called this place “Upper Ferntree Gully”, it was part of the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. The steep forested slopes, fern-filled gullies and creek lines around today’s suburb formed part of a much larger living landscape – managed through cultural burning, seasonal movement and deep knowledge of plants, animals and water.
The fern gullies and creeks that visitors admire today were not untouched wilderness; they were cared-for Country. Paths through the foothills connected to broader routes across Kulin Country, and stories, responsibilities and relationships to place were woven through every ridge and gully. The arrival of European settlers in the 1800s brought rapid and often violent disruption: land was claimed, disease spread, and many Wurundjeri people were pushed off their Country or later relocated to places such as Coranderrk near Healesville.
Acknowledging that Upper Ferntree Gully sits on unceded Aboriginal land is an important part of telling its story. The fern gullies, creeks and ridges that shaped early tourism here were already meaningful long before they appeared in colonial travel guides.
Mid-1800s: Timber, Tracks and the “Fern Tree Gully” Landscape
European activity in the foothills around Upper Ferntree Gully picks up in the mid-19th century. Timber cutters and small squatters moved into the area, drawn by the tall trees and proximity to the growing town of Melbourne.
In what is now the Upper Gully area, timber-cutters felled much of the lightwood and other useful species. One local story talks about early cutters leaving many of the tree ferns standing, which only increased the sense of a deep, shaded “fern tree gully” at the base of the mountain. That image – a cool ravine filled with ferns at the edge of the hot plains – captured people’s imaginations and eventually gave the broader district its name.
At this point there was no formal suburb, just scattered clearings, rough tracks and bushland. Access from Melbourne was slow and often muddy, and any journey into the foothills required time, horses and a willingness to put up with leeches, rain and rough roads.
1880s–1890s: Railway Terminus and Hillside Village
The 1880s are a turning point. As Melbourne expanded, there was strong pressure to push the railway further east. In December 1889 the line from Ringwood was extended, and a new station opened at Upper Ferntree Gully. For a time, this was the end of the broad-gauge line from the city – the end of the rails, the edge of the hills and a doorway into the mountains.
With the railway came a small but important village. Hotels, tea rooms and shops developed around the station to serve day-trippers and locals. One of the most recognisable landmarks from this era is the Royal Hotel at Upper Ferntree Gully, built in the late 1880s and looking out towards the line and the highway. Guesthouses and farm stays in the surrounding area offered simple accommodation, fresh air and hearty meals for visitors escaping the smoke and noise of Melbourne.
The pattern was familiar across the hills: a combination of small farms, timber work and tourism. Visitors came for the scenery – the fern gullies, tall gums and views – while local families mixed farming, casual work and the early tourist trade. Upper Ferntree Gully’s identity as a “gateway to the hills” really begins here.
1900–1930s: Narrow-Gauge Adventures and Community Foundations
In 1900, another big moment arrived: the narrow-gauge railway line from Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook opened. This little line, weaving its way through the forest, is the ancestor of today’s Puffing Billy Railway. For the next half-century, Upper Gully was the break-of-gauge station – where passengers and goods moved between the standard broad-gauge suburban trains and the smaller mountain trains heading up the line.
This arrangement made Upper Ferntree Gully a busy railway hub. Parcels of produce from the hills – berries, timber, milk – passed through the yard, and tourists bound for Belgrave, Emerald and Gembrook changed trains here. The station area buzzed with noise: whistles, shunting, luggage, families, timber workers and locals going about their day.
Around the same time, the community thickened. A small school, churches and shops formed a social centre. Local families farmed the lower slopes and flats, growing fruit and vegetables, running dairy herds and maintaining orchards. The gully was still very much a semi-rural place, but its rail link meant it never felt completely remote.
1939–1950s: Angliss Hospital and Life at the Foot of the Range
In 1939, a new and very important landmark appeared: a small bush nursing hospital was opened on a hillside above Upper Ferntree Gully. Funded in part by donations from Sir William Angliss, it began as a modest ten-bed facility, serving the growing communities scattered around the eastern foothills.
Over time that little hospital expanded into what we now know as Angliss Hospital, an important public hospital for the region. Many local families have stories tied to that building – births, broken bones, emergencies and long nights in waiting rooms, all with the mountain watching from behind. The hospital’s position, looking out over the suburb and towards the ranges, reinforces Upper Gully’s role as a meeting point between city services and hillside life.
The 1930s, 1940s and 1950s also saw the establishment of more clubs and associations: sporting teams playing at Kings Park, church groups, volunteer organisations and, in the broader Ferntree Gully district, bush fire brigades formed in response to devastating fires. Upper Ferntree Gully stood right on that line between bush and suburb, so fire, weather and land management were constant background concerns.
In 1954 the narrow-gauge line beyond Upper Gully closed, reflecting changing economics and transport patterns. But the story of trains in the district was not over yet.
Late 1950s–1960s: Electrification, Broad-Gauge and Suburban Shift
Between the late 1950s and early 1960s, the old narrow-gauge route to Belgrave was rebuilt as a broad-gauge, electrified suburban line. In 1962 the new electrified line from Upper Ferntree Gully to Belgrave opened, tying the hills more closely into Melbourne’s suburban rail network.
For Upper Ferntree Gully, this meant a subtle shift in identity. The station remained an important node, but now the focus was less on break-of-gauge operations and more on commuter traffic. The station complex was upgraded with an island platform and stabling sidings, and a growing number of services began or ended their journeys there.
Around the same time, housing spread further along the foothills. Some of the older farms were subdivided, and new streets of post-war brick and weatherboard homes appeared. The suburb began to move from semi-rural village to clear part of metropolitan Melbourne, even while the forest loomed just behind it.
Local government boundaries also shifted over the decades. Upper Ferntree Gully has, at various times, been part of the Shire of Fern Tree Gully, the Shire of Sherbrooke, the Shire of Yarra Ranges and the City of Knox. These administrative changes reflect a broader story: the transformation from rural shire to outer suburban corridor.
1970s–1990s: Community Houses, Sport and Everyday Suburbia
By the 1970s, Upper Ferntree Gully had settled into its role as a small foothills suburb with a strong community streak. Kings Park, beside Ferntree Gully and Ferny Creeks, became a key gathering place for sport – football, cricket, baseball, athletics – and weekend events. On training nights, the sound of whistles and shouting from the oval filled the air while the mountain darkened behind the lights.
Another important development was the growth of community education and support services. Coonara Community House, based in an old homestead building in Upper Gully, emerged as a local hub for adult education, support groups and social programmes. It’s the kind of place where you might find English classes, craft workshops, parenting groups, gardening talks and computer lessons all happening under one roof, reinforcing the suburb’s village atmosphere.
During these decades, everyday life in Upper Ferntree Gully looked increasingly familiar to outer-suburban Melbourne: kids walking to school, commuters taking the early train, people picking up groceries on the way home. But the constant presence of bushland and the national park meant that bird calls, possums on the roof and the odd curious wallaby in a front garden were also part of the picture.
Meanwhile, up the line, the Puffing Billy Railway was revived as a heritage tourist railway running from Belgrave into the hills. Although its main base moved further up, Upper Ferntree Gully remained part of that broader story of rail, tourism and nostalgia for the steam era.
2000s–Today: A Small Suburb at the Edge of the Bush
In the early 21st century, Upper Ferntree Gully is officially a suburb of Melbourne, with a population of only a few thousand people. It sits partly within the City of Knox and partly within the Shire of Yarra Ranges, depending on which side of certain boundaries you stand on.
The suburb’s character today sits on four main pillars:
- Nature: The Dandenong Ranges National Park, Ferntree Gully Park, creeks and bush reserves provide daily contact with the natural world. Walkers use Upper Gully as a starting point for longer hikes, especially up the 1000 Steps and into the fern gullies above.
- Transport: Upper Ferntree Gully station is still a premium station and a key stabling point for trains. Buses linking to other suburbs meet here, and Burwood Highway carries a constant stream of cars and trucks.
- Community: Schools, sporting clubs, community houses, churches and local groups give the suburb a strong sense of belonging. Long-standing organisations like local football and netball clubs, U3A classes and volunteer groups contribute to the social fabric.
- Services: Angliss Hospital remains a major employer and service provider, caring for patients from across the eastern suburbs and the hills.
At the same time, Upper Ferntree Gully faces many of the same questions as other foothills communities: how to protect native vegetation, manage bushfire risk, cope with increased traffic and development pressure, and maintain that elusive “village feel” while being part of a huge metropolitan area.
If you stand on the station platform today, you can see traces of all these layers at once. The modern electric trains, the broad highway, the hospital on the hill, the Royal Hotel, the creeks, the playing fields at Kings Park, and, towering above it all, the mountain with its fern gullies and tall trees. Upper Ferntree Gully is still very much a place “in between” – between city and forest, past and present, everyday life and the sense of being just a little bit closer to the clouds.
More videos you might like:
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment