Hoddles Creek

Hoddles Creek is a rural locality 55 km east of Melbourne and 6 km south of Yarra Junction. Hoddles Creek is a tributary of the Yarra River and was named after Robert Hoddle, government surveyor, who surveyed the Yarra Valley in 1844-45.

The Hoddles Creek valley was occupied by pastoralists soon after Hoddle’s survey, and a village known as Hoddles Creek Falls was established in the 1860s. There was alluvial gold mining as well as tunnelling for deep leads. In 1872 the first of several schools opened and during the ensuing years they were run in conjunction with the school at Warburton. In 1903 Hoddles Creek was described in the Australian handbook:

In 1909 an Anglican church hall was opened, serving general community purposes until a new building was constructed in 1975.

Timber cutting and milling were significant industries in the 1910s and 1920s, but horticulture has proved to be more enduring. There are numerous small farms, a recreation reserve and in 2014 the school had 44 pupils.

Hoddles Creek census populations have been:

area census date population
Hoddles Creek 1911 52
  1921 76
  1933 64
  1947 105
  1954 113
  1961 90
Hoddles Creek and environs 2006* 1061
  2011 609

*larger census area

Further Reading

D. Burville, Hoddles Creek: the school and district, the author, 1975

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