Camperdown (/ˈkæmpərdaʊn/)[2] is a town in southwestern Victoria, Australia, 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of the state capital, Melbourne.

Settlement was met with resistance by some of the Djargurd Wurrong, the Murdering Gully massacre taking place nearby.

Notable on this account is the family of David Fenton, the Scottish Presbyterian shepherd and drover who built the first house in Camperdown in 1853.

The settlement was called Timboon, but after a wet winter it was decided to move the town to higher ground nestled at the base of Mount Leura.

The first dwelling was erected on the site of the present Commercial Hotel in 1853[5] and the Post Office opened on 1 January 1854 replacing an earlier one in the area named Timboon.

His friend, James Dawson was shocked at this burial upon his return from a trip to Scotland, and personally reburied Wombeetch in Camperdown Cemetery.

The 7 metre obelisk was erected as a memorial to Wombeetch Puuyuun and the Aboriginal people of the district,[7] and has been described as being still inspiring today.

By the mid 20th century Camperdown had emerged as a more diverse centre for dairy farming which drew on its rich volcanic soil, for woolgrowing and for produce processing industries.

The town has a life-sized statue of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, carved from sandstone in the 1830s and based on the earliest painting of the Bard.

[14] Efforts to restore the statue led to a festival celebrating the town's connection with Burns being held in 2012 and then annually.

A dual carriageway with a large central reservation and secondary service street runs through the centre of town.

Archery, badminton, cricket, cycling, golf, horse riding, lawn bowls, squash and tennis, water skiing and yachting have competitions in and around the town.