 Following the occupation of most of the fertile plains and foothills around Melbourne by early squatters, the forests of the Otways hinterland were progressively cleared and settled for agriculture beginning in the 1830s, and with a second wave of settlement into the higher and wetter mountain forests during the 1880s.This region of the Otways is meteorologically famous, with an average 235 wet days per year, and nearby Weeaproinah recording an average rainfall of 2010 mm to make it one of the wettest places in Australia.The climate has favoured the growth of the Redwoods in suitable topographic site in the Aire Valley.