Churchill was formerly known as Hazelwood, Victoria and began as a service centre for the Hazelwood Power Station and future replacement for Yallourn and Morwell townships. The site was chosen for its pleasant location at the foot of the Strzelecki Ranges, overlooking Hazelwood Pondage. It was relatively free from air pollution, is not above rich coalfields and is in close proximity to the larger towns and power stations in the Latrobe Valley.
Construction of Churchill began in 1965. In that year the first two houses in Churchill were completed and subsequently occupied by the Arch and Ayers families who received morning paper deliveries from the Yinnar General Store, and milk delivery from John Koedijk. Within a week five more families arrived and so the town began to grow street by street. The town was sufficiently advanced for the Post Office to open on 11 April 1966. The shopping centre in Churchill was officially opened on July 1967, the first two shops (butcher and pharmacy) having opened 19 May 1967. In that year many new traders opened for business. All the shop keepers were offered a commission house in Churchill for their use. The Churchill Newsagency opened in 1967. A Tattersalls agency was established in 1975.
The town was planned with a well-defined commercial centre, expansive parklands, a mix of government and privately owned quarter-acre (1,000 m²) town blocks and light industrial estates separated from residential areas by a belt of parkland. The transport system was to be a network of restricted-access highways and a ring road fully encircling the town. Population was planned to reach 6,000 by 1971, and eventually 40,000 by 2000. However slow development of services and a slowdown of the state of Victoria's power station construction program meant that Churchill was to never realise its potential, and population reached a modest level of 5500 by the 1991 census, before stabilising at around 5,000. Signs of renewed growth are appearing, with a new housing estate development opening in 2005, the first for some years.
During 2009, the town's retail precinct was refurbished, and a new mall constructed. There are now very few of the original traders left in business. After closing in 2006 the hotel was remodeled and reopened in January 2011.
In 2009 Churchill also suffered the shock of the Black Saturday bush fires. Lit deliberately on Glendonald Rd, these fires burnt the surrounding hills of Churchill through to Yarram and killed 11 people.
(Abridged from Wikipedia)