Colac

History

For thousands of years clans of the Gulidjan people lived in the region of Colac. The British first entered the region in March 1837, when several land-holders came upon Lake Colac while searching for the missing colonist Joseph Gellibrand. Another larger search party, which was acting on information that local Gulidjan had killed Gellibrand, arrived in April. This group returned to Geelong after two Gulidjan people were killed by Aboriginal trackers accompanying the party. Settlement of the area began in September 1837 with the arrival of grazier Hugh Murray (died 1869) who selected of land and established three sheep stations: Warrion, Elliminyt and Barongarook. According to Murray, conflict with the resident Gulidjan was limited, with one Aboriginal man being shot dead during punitive raids upon Aboriginal settlements following the taking of sheep. In 1841, around forty Gulidjan lived and worked on what was now Murray's property. The surveying for a village began in 1841 and the township of Lake Colac was proclaimed in 1848. The Post Office opened on 1 July 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854. Colac Botanic Gardens in Queen Street located on the shores of Lake Colac, were established in 1868. In 1854 town founder Hugh Murray employed a couple of shepherds named Thomas Brookhouse and Patrick Geary. Brookhouse, who was looking for missing sheep disappeared without a trace. Patrick Geary and his wife soon left the district. Fifteen years later a boy out rabbiting found the skeletal remains of Thomas Brookhouse under a pile of rocks near Lake Corangamite. Brookhouse had his head smashed in. It took Police two years to track Patrick Geary and charge him with Brookhouse's murder. A friend of Geary told the court that Geary had killed Brookhouse with an…

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,689
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,213
• Red Wattlebird

  Anthochaera carunculata (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,101
• Pacific Black Duck

  Anas superciliosa J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  1,083
• Little Raven

  Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 · Aves
  984
• Black Swan

  Cygnus atratus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  940
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  926
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  918

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2026-07-05
  28 km WNW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 3.5 — 2023-10-21
  10 km NW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 4.8 — 2023-10-21
  16 km WNW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 3.1 — 2013-05-01
  7 km NW of Clifton Springs, Australia
• M 3 — 2010-03-30
  4 km NNE of Portarlington, Australia