Cororooke

Cororooke is a rural village 8 km north-west of Colac in western Victoria. It is situated in the fertile Warrion Hills between Lakes Colac and Corangamite.

It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word describing the Warrion Hills or the native companion/brolga.

The Cororooke area was first held as part of a large pastoral run, although some small farms were subdivided from it in about 1865. More subdivisions occurred in the 1880s, and many of the new settlers were of Irish origin. They were skilled at using the small holdings for growing potatoes and onions. Dairying was also taken up. A school was opened in 1887 or 1888. In 1903 Cororooke was described in the Australian handbook:

The butter factory at Cororooke was opened in 1901 as a branch of Colac Dairying Company. (Since being taken over by Bonlac in 1986 the Colac factory has been closed and the Cororooke factory continued until 2013.) A Presbyterian church was dedicated in 1903.

Cororooke was a station on the railway line from Colac to Alvie (1923-54), by which vegetables and dairy products were transported. In 1953 the school was closed, one of several in the area when a consolidated school was opened at Alvie. Catholic residents have a church and school at nearby Coragulac. Efforts were made to upgrade the local tennis courts in 2013.

Cororooke's census populations have been: