It is located near Lake Eildon, on the Goulburn Valley Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area.

[1] Taungurung people are the traditional owners of the land around Eildon (which stretches north-east beyond Mansfield, Victoria and to the west nearly to Bendigo).

The township of Darlingford (which was located near the junction of Big River and the Goulburn River) was established in the 1860s, when gold was discovered nearby, however when the construction of the reservoir commenced in 1915, which would ultimately flood the land behind the dam wall, including the township of Darlingford and Eildon Station (a run of 25,000 hectares owned by the Thoms).

[4] Lake Eildon is most notable for its extraordinary cloud cover in winter, measuring only 69 sun hours in June; this is especially cloudy for a location at only 37 degrees of latitude.

Eildon Fire Tower to the west-northwest is 407 metres (1,335 ft) higher in altitude and located on an exposed hilltop.

Snowfalls are common here and cloud cover is extremely heavy in the winter months, as evident from the mean afternoon humidity readings in June and July.