Kangaroo Ground

Kangaroo Ground is located in the Shire of Nillumbik and close to Eltham, Research, Hurstbridge, Panton Hill, Warrandyte, Wonga Park and Diamond Creek.

The quiet country town of Kangaroo Ground is a warm and welcoming place to visit. Here you’ll find a general store that also serves as a cafe, newsagent and petrol stop, but what makes Kangaroo Ground particularly quirky is that its post office is reputed to be the only one in Australia that is also a winery. It’s even caught the interest of the popular James Halliday Wine Companion.

The village location was settled in 1842 and because of its hilly but relatively open woodland, it attracted grazing kangaroos, inspiring the place name. Land selection began in the 1850s, and a community predominantly of Scottish farmers grew up before gold mining in Diamond Creek and Warrandyte surged between 1854 and the mid-1860s.

Here you’ll also find the Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Park which occupies Garden Hill, the tallest hill for many miles around. Its main feature is the 12-metre Tower of Remembrance modelled on a Scottish watchtower (so it could also be used for fire spotting), which opened in 1926 to honour those in the Eltham Shire who died in World War I. The views from here offer the traveller a great vantage point for both viewing and photography from Melbourne all the way around the mountain ranges that hug the region.