Cardinia Shire

Cardinia Shire, an area of 1280 square km, is headquartered at Pakenham, West Gippsland, 57 km east of central Melbourne. It was formed in 1994 by the amalgamation of Pakenham Shire, the eastern half of Cranbourne Shire and a small part of Sherbrooke Shire. The name came from the Cardinia Creek, a stream with headwaters in the north-west of the shire and which forms most of the west boundary of the shire before it enters Western Port Bay east of Tooradin. It is thought that the name derived from an Aboriginal expression about looking towards the rising sun.