The plains around Cressy were first occupied in 1838 by a Frenchman named Frederick Jean Duverney. The Township was named after his hometown in France. Many changes in the size and character of the town have occurred during the intervening years. Since its ‘hey day’ sporting, religious and voluntary organisations, businesses and education have all been challenged by social and economic changes as well as two devastating fires in 1944 and 1977.

Located on the edge of the Western Plains the Cressy township, although in the Colac-Otway Shire, has its boundaries divided by the Woady Yaloak River to the Corangamite Shire and the Hamilton Highway to the Golden Plains Shire. Proximity to Colac, Ballarat, Geelong and Melbourne attract a number of people seeking country living.

The town is supported by the surrounding agricultural area which consists mainly of cropping and sheep farming. Although the population has declined in the last decades there is still quite a degree of activity and willingness by a wide cross section of the community to be active in taking care of our past and our future.

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