Reedy Creek

Reedy Creek is a rural locality in central northern Victoria, 10 km south-east of Broadford and 60 km north of Melbourne. The creek is overlooked by the Tallarook State Forest to the north and the Mount Disappointment State Forest to the south.

Gold was discovered at Reedy Creek in 1857. Within two years reef mining began, and continued until the 1870s. The estimated mining population in 1859 was 3300 persons.

A Catholic school was opened in 1867 and a government school in 1871. The creek valley was suitable for farming, and the most prominent property is the Reedy Creek Estate. The homestead (1850) on Reedy Creek Road was built by a settler, Alexander McKenzie, and is on the Australian and the Victorian historic buildings registers.

Reedy Creek was described in 1903 in the Australian handbook:

The last of the deep reef mines closed in about 1910.

By the 1930s Reedy Creek had only the post office and the school, which were closed in 1965 and 1967 respectively. The progress association acquired the school building.

Other settlements in the Reedy Creek district include Strath Creek (10 km east of Reedy Creek) and Tyaak, 6 km north of Reedy Creek. Both were gold mining settlements. Strath Creek has outlasted the others, having a mechanics' institute, a Uniting church and a hotel. Strath Creek has fairly extensive farmlands on the King Parrot and Strath Creeks.

Reedy Creek’s census populations were: