Cressy

History

George Russell, manager of the pastoral Clyde Company, opened up the area to European settlement in 1836. In 1837, a French man named Jean Duverney crossed the Woady Yaloak River, claimed land on both banks, and named the area "Frenchman's Run". Duverney called the small, developing village Cressy, after Crécy in France, where he was born. The Cressy Post Office opened on 1 January 1858, became a licensed post office on 1 November 1993 and was downgraded to a community mail agent around 1999. Cressy Primary School opened on 1 January 1862 in the Presbyterian Church. It moved to a new building on the site of what is now the old police station in 1866, moved again to its final site in March 1912, and was extended in 1960 and 1967. The school closed on 17 December 2010. After the outbreak of World War II, an airfield was constructed south of the town towards Colac, and was used by the RAAF until 1946 as a combat training base and for bombing practice. Cressy airfield had three airstrips, two about long with a drained gravel surface and a grass airstrip about long. Two large Bellman hangars were used for aircraft maintenance. Several RAAF aircraft crashed in the vicinity during the war. The first railway to reach Cressy was an extension of the line from Colac to Beeac. It opened in December 1910, and by September 1911, the line had been extended north to Newtown, where it joined the line to Ballarat. In September 1910, work began at Cressy on the Western Plains Railway. This line joined the line to Ararat at Maroona, and the lines to Geelong at Gheringhap. Cressy, being at the junction of the two cross-country lines, became an important railway centre, with extensive buildings, railway yards, and a turntable. Buildings included station offices, refreshment rooms, and…

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  975
• Eurasian Skylark

  Alauda arvensis Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  571
• Little Raven

  Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 · Aves
  551
• Brown Falcon

  Falco berigora Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 · Aves
  351
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  310
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  306
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  287
• Masked Lapwing

  Vanellus miles (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  283

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