Ross Creek

Ross Creek is a rural locality 12 km south-west of Ballarat. It was named after Charles Ross, who took up a pastoral run in 1841.

Ross Creek is situated between the former gold fields of Ballarat and Woady Yaloak/Smythesdale, but was not itself a mining area. It was well forested, and a source of timber for mining engines and for supporting underground shafts.

During the 1860s farm allotments were taken up at Ross Creek, and in 1865 a Welsh Congregational church and a school were opened. There were also small Anglican and Bible Christian churches. No hotel or general store was built, and the school, church and a library (c1878) were the district’s meeting places. Ross Creek was described in 1903 in the Australian handbook:

In 1915 the school was rebuilt and the old building was made a public hall. By then the library had ceased. Farm holdings decreased in number as they were consolidated, but in the 1970s-80s Ross Creek had grown with several subdivisions for rural/residential living. A general store was opened in 1989. The Welsh church building is a derelict hay store, but the recreation reserve and the school are well attended.

Ross Creek’s census populations have been: