The history of Hoddles Creek

In 1844-45 Robert Hoddle, Senior Surveyor for what was then N.S.W. and responsible for the plan of Melbourne City Streets, carried out a survey of the Yarra River from its lower reaches to its source. In December of 1844 he camped on the creek named after him and not far from this camp he built a bridge to take his dray across the Hoddles Creek. In 1865, Hoddles Creek was known as Hoddles Creek Falls. It was then a postal village in the Upper Yarra for the alluvial gold mining industry. The surrounding country was mountainous and scrubby, and covered with heavy timber. The flatlands were particularly swampy in the winter. The only communication with Lilydale and Warburton was by pack and saddle horse, or dray passing along the Hoddles Creek (Gembrook) Road.

In 1875 The Australian Handbook notes of Hoddles Creek that… “The township is an improving one and the mining and pastoral interest in particular, one reef is known to exist and it is believed by residents that enterprising capitalists would be well rewarded.”

In 1862, at about the time the gold rush was in full swing, a Post Office opened at Hoddles Creek. It was closed three years later and then reopened and closed on numerous occasions and on various sites over the next one hundred years until it was officially and finally closed in 1967.

Not everyone (if anyone) found their fortune in mining and an alternative source of income was found in the timber industry. Numerous mills operated in the Hoddles Creek area and large stands of eucalypts were felled and milled. The aftermath of the 1926 and then 1939 bushfires brought about a major change to the timber industry with the destruction of the rail lines that were used to move the logs and the burnt undergrowth taken over by vigorous regrowth of wattles.

With the clearing of the landscape as a result of felling the trees it was inevitable that farming became a prospective and profitable source of income. The rich soil and gentle sloping hills gave way to agricultural crops with orchards, vineyards, berries, vegetables and cut flowers and this industry has continued until the present day.

As the early population of Hoddles Creek expanded, the need for a school became evident. In 1872 the local mining population erected a small school with slab walls and a bark roof. In 1875 an official school (S.S. Hoddles Creek Warburton) opened and operated on a part-time share basis with separate buildings in Hoddles Creek and Warburton. In 1880 a wooden portable building was erected in Hoddles Creek on a new site with five acres of Crown Land. In 1886 Hoddles Creek School was renumbered S.S. 2541 and the association with Warburton (S.S. 1485) gave way to a similar halftime arrangement with S.S. 2599 Launching Place. In 1892, due to declining population the school was closed and the portable building was removed. In 1910 the school reopened using the Church of England hall opposite the current school site as a building. After much lobbying from residents a new school building was constructed and officially opened at the end of 1915. This building remains to this current day serving as the office and staff rooms of the present day school.

The old hall, built by a working bee around 1909 served numerous purposes over the years, including schooling, meetings, functions and even a wedding in 1956. In 1962 electricity came to Hoddles Creek with the official switch-on ceremony held at the hall. But even by this time the old weatherboard building had seen better days and the community rallied to raise funds for a new hall.

In the 1970’s following the demolition of the old hall and sale of the land sufficient funds had been raised and a new hall on the site of the recreation reserve was constructed.

Many names of pioneer families are honoured in the district, some by street names such as Willis, Staves, Grover, Thonemann, Eacott, Teese, Parkinson and Worlley and others by creeks like McCraes and Hansens although perhaps Hoddles Creek’s most famous resident was Sir Harold Massey who attended the school from 1913 and went on to become an acclaimed scientist in England. On a return visit to the school in 1937 he planted a pine tree that stands tall and proud today in his honour.