Christmas Hills, Victoria

The Christmas Hills township consists of a cluster of homes, a public hall, a tennis court, a memorial park with a World War I monument and a fire brigade shed, erected after the 1939 bushfires. About one km (0.62 mi) to the west is Christmas Hills Primary School, first established in 1884, with an enrolment of 22 students in 2006.[5] A mobile library service managed by Yarra Plenty Regional Library visits the community, parked at the school regularly.[6]

Rob Roy _{(37°38′56″S 145°17′10″E)} in the western part is used for a range of hill racing events by the MG Car Club of Victoria.[7] It was first established in 1937 by motoring enthusiasts and the Light Car Club for hill-racing motorbikes and cars and was utilised as a venue well into the postwar years.[8] Initially a dirt track, it was fully bitumenised in 1939. It was burnt out in 1962, and abandoned. The MGCC took out a lease on the property in 1992, and rebuilt all the facilities, running the first meeting of the "modern era" in February 1993.[9]

One Tree Hill _{(37°37′59″S 145°18′36″E)}, a former mining area in northwestern Christmas Hills, is now a 143 hectare reserve managed by Parks Victoria. Its main features are Happy Valley Creek, which runs through the reserve, and the 372 m (1,220 ft) One Tree Hill in the northeast. According to the Land Conservation Council of Victoria,[10] it has been assessed as "being of State botanical significance for its ecological integrity and viability, rarity and representation of community types", and is home to 22 species assessed as regionally threatened, rare or restricted in the greater Melbourne area, including roosting colonies of large bent-wing bat and eastern horseshoe bat, and the powerful owl, brush-tailed phascogale and barking owl.[11] The LCC reports that 79 bird, 24 mammal, 7 reptile and 7 frog species have been recorded in the reserve.

Sugarloaf Reservoir
The reservoir at just under half capacity
Sugarloaf Reservoir
Location	Christmas Hills, Victoria
Coordinates	37°40′30″S 145°17′33″E
Lake type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Maroondah Aqueduct, Yarra River
Basin countries	Australia
Surface area	4.4 km2 (1.7 sq mi)

Sugarloaf Reservoir (37°40′30″S 145°17′33″E) is a 440-hectare reservoir which has a total water capacity of 96,000 megalitres, and was developed in the late 1970s and completed in 1981. It is managed by Melbourne Water and supplies scheme water to Melbourne's northern, western and inner suburbs.[12] Sugarloaf is fed by the Maroondah Aqueduct and the Yarra River, and before entering the domestic water supply, water is treated at the Winneke Water Treatment Plant on the south bank of the reservoir to World Health Organization guidelines. The main dam is 89 m high and 1,050 m long.

Around the reservoir is the Sugarloaf Reservoir Park, which opened in 1982 and is managed by Parks Victoria. The park's entrance, open during most daylight hours, is 1.2 km (0.75 mi) off Eltham-Yarra Glen Road. Barbecue and picnic facilities are available at Saddle Dam, south-east of the dam wall, and Ridge Park to the North. Several walking trails can be used with permission of Parks Victoria. Watercraft are only permitted to launch from the Sugarloaf Sailing Club on the north bank, and sail boards, keel boats and/or craft with cabins, cooking or toilet facilities are not permitted on the Reservoir.[13] The area is home to eastern grey kangaroos, echidnas, wedge-tailed eagles, crimson rosellas and other wildlife including a population of deer. Vegetation ranges from grassland, having been cleared for agriculture in the decades prior to the reservoir's construction, to dry forest.