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Kallista

(3791, 37 km E, Yarra Ranges Shire)

Surrounded by the tall eucalypts of Sherbrooke Forest, Kallista is something of a mecca for tourists. Formerly known as South Sassafras, the name Kallista (from the Greek word for beauty) was reputedly suggested by a Miss Eastough in the 1920s. Established as a timber-splitters' camp in the 1870s this tiny hamlet was for some time home to Tom Roberts, a Heidelberg School painter and friend of Arthur Streeton, who often visited from Olinda. John Garibaldi Roberts, chairman of the Melbourne Tramways Board, located several redundant horse tram bodies on his property Sunnyside at Kallista. It was while camped in one of these that his friend C.J. Dennis wrote The sentimental bloke.

Arthur Winzenried