Croydon

Croydon, an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne at the foot of the Dandenongs, developed in the 1850s about a familiar cluster of public buildings that seeded many an Australian township - two churches, a school, a post office and two pubs, the Brushy Creek Hotel and the Dew Drop Inn.

The railway opened in 1882, about the time David Mitchell, father of a daughter the world was about to toast as Nellie Melba, bought the local butcher shop.

Today Croydon is a thriving municipality, whose heritage is recorded in the Historical Society Museum in Civic Square. The Wyreena Community Arts Centre has developed round two historic homes and gardens.

There are several flora and fauna reserves, most of which are laced with bushwalking tracks and picnic areas.

Presenting the irresistible combination of nursery, gallery, craft shop and education centre, the Gumnut Village specialises in Australian native plants. Its pivotal Austraflora Gardens embrace a kitchen garden, a mudbrick rotunda, a fern and rainforest glade, rockpools, waterpools and a picnic area.