The Series has been brought to you to highlight local country towns in the South of Victoria.

BUCKLEY

Buckley is a rural locality in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. It was formerly known as Laketown. In the 2011 census, Buckley, Modewarre and Wurdiboluc combined had a population of 569 people. In June 2014, the Victorian Electoral Commission recorded 166 enrolled voters living in 79 properties in Buckley itself.

A hotel called the Lady of the Lake Hotel opened on Barrabool Road at what is now Buckley in 1854, and the area began to be known as Laketown. The hotel reportedly flourished, being located on the road to Colac, and became a social centre for the area. The hotel was a coach stop on the road to Colac, and the Duke of Edinburgh stopped there in 1870 while his party's horses were being rested. A post office opened at Laketown on 15 March 1872, and a store was added around the same period. A school was opened in 1878 close to the hotel, initially known as Mount Moriac State School (No. 2063), but renamed Laketown in 1883. A Laketown Football Club and Laketown Cricket Club existed in the 1870s, and had a sports ground west of the hotel. Laketown declined thereafter; the school closed in 1893, and was later used as a church and private residence. Laketown Post Office closed temporarily from 1 July to 1 October 1895, and then closed permanently on 1 October 1897. The Lady of the Lake Hotel's license lapsed in 1912, when it became a private home, and it burned down in 1962.

The former school is the only surviving remnant of the former Laketown settlement, and is listed on the Surf Coast Shire heritage inventory as having state significance.

Source: Wikipedia