Population 455 (2011 census) LGA(s) Surf Coast Shire Freshwater Creek Mount Duneed Local time Saturday 1:59 AM | Postcode(s) 3216 State electorate(s) South Barwon Postal code 3216 Federal division Division of Corangamite | |
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Location 17 km (11 mi) SW of Geelong
81 km (50 mi) SW of Melbourne Weather 17°C, Wind E at 21 km/h, 75% Humidity | ||
Freshwater Creek is a small town in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. In the 2011 census, Freshwater Creek had a population of 455 people. It is named after the drainage creek that flows through the area after heavy rain.
Map of Freshwater Creek VIC 3217, Australia
The town has only two shops: a petrol station, general store, and restaurant, and a bakery, Freshwater Creek Cakes. Freshwater Creek Cakes is well known within the region, and has been listed in the Foodies Guide to Melbourne. The town also has a public hall, tennis courts, and Freshwater Creek Steiner School.
Freshwater Creek Post Office opened on 21 January 1860, was provisionally closed on 25 January 1961, and closed on 25 March 1961.
A school was opened at Freshwater Creek in 1856 as a Wesleyan denominational school. It became a department school with the introduction of state schools in 1883. A new weatherboard building was opened at the same time, following the bluestone building from 1856. Freshwater Creek Primary School closed around the 1980s. The school's honour roll from World War I is now located in the town's public hall, and is listed on the Victorian War Heritage Inventory. A new independent school within the town, Freshwater Creek Steiner School, opened on a different site in 2000.
St David's Lutheran Church and Cemetery, located on Anglesea Road, is a historic church which is both listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and classified by the National Trust of Australia. The current bluestone church dates from 1866, although a prior church had existed on the site since 1859. The church has a strong association with the early German pioneers who settled in the area, and the attached churchyard cemetery has historical significance as one of the few in the state to still survive. Services are still held at the church on the 3rd Sunday of every month, run by St Paul's Lutheran Church in Grovedale, which was designed by the same architect.