[1] A hotel called the Lady of the Lake opened in 1854 on Barrabool Road, at what is now Buckley, and the area began to be known as Laketown.

The hotel reportedly flourished, being on the road to Colac, and became a social centre for the area.

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

Historian Ian Wynd wrote that it closed in 1874, but that some sources suggest it continued to 1883 and that its students were sent to the Laketown school.

The Buckley Tennis and Social Club is among the last community institutions remaining in the town.

[13] The Erinvale Thoroughbreds stud, based on the historic Carawartha property, is at Buckley.