VICFarming
Colac
A coaching inn became the market town for fertile volcanic country.
1844Town surveyed · lake-country service centre
WHAT STARTED IT
Colac formed around the Crook and Plaid inn beside Lake Colac. The town was surveyed in 1844 and quickly gained stores, trades and public services for the surrounding pastoral estates.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Rail arrived in 1877 as large estates were being subdivided for dairying, fodder and vegetables. Timber milling and dairy processing added industry. A rabbit cannery, operating from 1871, was an unusual response to the district’s immense rabbit problem.
TURNING POINTS
1844Town surveyed around a coaching inn.
1871Rabbit cannery begins operating.
1877Railway reaches Colac.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A regional centre for the Colac–Otway district, with food processing, farm services and Lake Colac beside its commercial streets.