Campbells Creek

About Campbells Creek

Campbells Creek is a historic gold rush town in the Mount Alexander Shire of Victoria, located 120 kilometres northwest of Melbourne and just 2 kilometres south of Castlemaine on the Midland Highway. Named after Campbells Creek, a tributary of the Loddon River, the area was home to the Dja Dja Wurrung people for approximately 40,000 years. During the 1850s gold rush the town grew rapidly with around 3,000 people living along the creek by 1853, and a huge Chinese camp of over 3,000 people emerged with joss temples, tea-houses and gambling establishments. The Five Flags Hotel opened on 1 June 1855 and the name refers to the many nationalities that worked the goldfields. The town features numerous historic buildings along Main Road including Vermont Villa built in 1861 and the former Methodist Church from 1862. The Campbells Creek Magpies football team holds the record for the largest known score in Australian Rules Football history with 100.34 (634) defeating Primrose 3.0 (18) in 1990.