Scotts Creek

Scotts Creek is a rural locality in western Victoria, 25 km south of Camperdown and about midway between Cobden and Timboon. It is situated in hilly country which was once the western fringe of the Heytesbury Forest.

Scotts Creek was probably named after Hugh Scott, a co-proprietor of part of the pastoral run originally occupied by Dr Daniel Curdie in the Cobden district. Settlers moved into the area along the Curdies River and then inland during the 1860s and 1870s. In 1876 there were enough settlers at Scotts Creek for a school to be opened. A hotel and a hall were opened in 1883 and 1888.

The area had good soil and rainfall, suitable for agriculture, orcharding and dairying. A creamery was opened in 1891. Market access for farm produce was by track to Cobden or Port Campbell until the railway line to Timboon was opened in 1892.

Scotts Creek was associated with Cowleys Creek a few kilometres to the south-east, and farming in that direction was expanded when parts of the forest were cleared for dairying during 1928-33. Most clearing occurred from the 1950s onwards for the Heytesbury settlement area and the new township of Simpson.

Scotts Creek has remained a rural locality with a rebuilt public hall (1955), and pavilion (1988) at its recreation reserve. The school closed in 1948 when the Timboon Consolidated school was opened.

Scotts Creek’s census populations have been:

At the 2011 census, dairy farming accounted for 53% of employment.