Together with its distributary Mordialloc Creek and the culvert-linked Kananook Creek and Elster Creek, the so-called "Dandenong Catchment" has an overall catchment of approximately 882 km2 (341 sq mi).[5]
Etymology
The traditional custodians of the land surrounding what is now known as the Dandenong Creek were the indigenousBunurong people of the Kulin nation who referred to the creek as Narra Narrawong; while others gave the creek the name Dandenong, sometimes spelled as Dand-y-non or Tanjenong by early settlers, believed to mean "high" or "lofty".[1]
The Upper Dandenong starts at the Olinda town center and first flows westwards between Mount Dandenong and The Basin, picking up its first significant tributary, the Dobson Creek, near a retarding basin just west of the junction among The Basin, Kilsyth, Kilsyth South and Boronia. It continues further west as the boundary between several adjacent suburbs, picking up Little Bungalook and Tarralla-Bungalook Creek before turning southwards at the junction between Ringwood, Vermont and Wantirna, roughly where EastLink crosses.
The Middle Dandenong starts at the mouth of the small Heatherdale Creek just west of EastLink, and then flows meandrously to the south, joined by the Blind Creek (near Jells Park). It then crosses over to the east side of the EastLink, joined by the Corhanwarrabul Creek (at the Tirhatuan Wetlands), and then courses southeast towards the western edge of the Churchill National Park, crossing the namesaked Dandenong Valley Highway (Stud Road) in the process. After draining a series of greenspace reserves known as the Dandenong Valley Parklands, the creek reaches a former police paddock in Endeavour Hills and turns more southwardly again as the boundary between Dandenong North and Endeavour Hills. The riparian zones and associated runoffcatchment surrounding the tri-suburban junction between Dandenong North, Dandenong and Doveton are known as the Dandenong Wetlands, which include a 0.8 km (0.5 mi) section of Heatherton Road just west of Monash Freeway that functions as a floodway. The creek then continues further south as the northern half of the boundary between Dandenong and Doveton.
The Lower Dandenong starts just upstream of the Clow Street bridge in Dandenong East, where the creek becomes concrete-lined throughout almost its entire course within Dandenong. It first turns southwest at Dandenong Park, looping shortly northwest before crossing Princes Highway and the Pakenham/Cranbourne railway line, then continues further westwards south of the Dandenong town center until it picks up the Mile Creek (its last de jure tributary) about 350 m (380 yd) upstream of the Dandenong Bypass bridge. It then turns straight south again and courses alongside the EastLink's east side as the boundary between Dandenong South and Keysborough, crossing over to the west side of the EastLink again about 1 km (0.62 mi) before giving offMordialloc Creek near the tri-suburban junction with Bangholme at the Perry Road bridge. It then flows southwest into Bangholme for another 1.4 km (0.87 mi) before reaching its confluence with the Eumemmerring Creek to form the partly man-made Patterson River, which continues southwest through Bangholme, Patterson Lakes, Bonbeach and Carrum and drains into the Beaumaris Bay, a small eastern bight of Port Phillip Bay north of the Mornington Peninsula.
Tributaries
Dobson Creek (left) — headwaters in Sassafras, confluence in northern The Basin (near Liverpool Road Retarding Basin)
Little Bungalook Creek (right) — headwaters in southern Kilsyth, confluence in southwestern Kilsyth South)
Bungalook Creek (right) — headwaters in Montrose, joined by Tarralla Creek (headwaters in southern Croydon) in western Bayswater North, confluence in Heathmont
Heatherdale Creek (right) — headwaters in southwestern Ringwood, confluence in eastern Vermont
Corhanwarrabul Creek (left) — headwaters in southern Ferny Creek (namesaked from the creek's upper section), joined by Monbulk Creek (headwaters in southern Kallista) between southern Knoxfield and northern Rowville, confluence in southwestern Rowville (at Tirhatuan Wetlands)
Mordialloc Creek — branching off the right bank of Dandenong Creek at the tri-suburban junction of Keysborough, Bangholme and Dandenong South (near Perry Road bridge), flowing west/northwest as the boundary between Keysborough, Bangholme, Waterways, Braeside and Aspendale Gardens, picking up the drainage runoff from the Smythes Drain, Waterways Lake and Lagoons, Dunlops Drain (formed from Old Dandenong Road Drain and Dingley Drain), Mordialloc Settlement Drain, Heatherton Drain and the Edithvale Wetlands Drain before emptying into Beaumaris Bay between Mordialloc and Aspendale.
The health of the creek in these urban areas ranges from moderate to very poor and has been the focus of a number of clean-up campaigns in recent years.[7] An industrial wastewater stream known as Old Joes Creek flows into Dandenong Creek, with its confluence in Bayswater.[8] This drain runs underground for much of its course, running in a westerly direction and servicing several industrial estates in the catchment of Dandenong Creek.[9] The tributary is commonly contaminated with plasticlitterings and heavy metals, and authorities have made several attempts to prevent pollution which spreads downstream into Dandenong Creek.[10][11]
Creek crossings
The list below notes current bridges that cross over the Dandenong Creek. Some are road and rail bridges, whilst others are pedestrian and equestrian crossings.
