The original township was located around the confluence of the Thomson River and Coopers Creek which is where mining operations were centred.

[5] Initial smelting conducted in Coopers Creek was unsuccessful and unprofitable due to lowered copper prices and the large quantity of firewood being consumed in the process.

[6][8] The last gold mined from Happy-Go-Lucky was sold to the copper smelting works at Coopers Creek before its closure in 1915.

[6] The Long Tunnel Extended Mine at Walhalla was opened for tourism some years later, and a number of pieces of equipment and buildings were moved there from Coopers Creek.

[5] Woodcutting had also been a major industry in the Coopers Creek area, mainly to support the mining operations by providing firewood and construction materials.

[5] The 1939 Black Friday bushfires further devastated the Coopers Creek area and forced a large part of the population to move into larger towns and cities to seek employment.

The Coopers Creek campsite is a popular camping site and includes a long drop toilet, picnic tables, a boat ramp as well as walking and four-wheel drive tracks.

[1][12][2][13][14] From around 1960 the Holyoak family, after staying at the Copper Mine Hotel, began purchasing titles of properties in the town.

That year they listed for sale the 4.45 hectares (11.0 acres) of the town for between A$2,500,000 and A$3,000,000 with comparisons being made by Australian media to Canadian television sitcom Schitt's Creek.