It is believed that the name Moorabool derives from an Aboriginal word meaning the cry of a curlew or a ghost.

[3] Work on the Geelong Ring Road bridge over the Moorabool River commenced in late 2006.

Costing $15.5 million,[4] it carries four lanes of traffic and is the largest bridge on the road, with 70 beams and 12 piers.

[6] The 440-metre (1,440 ft)-long bluestone and iron Moorabool Viaduct was opened in 1862 to carry the Geelong-Ballarat railway over the river valley.

It remains in use today, having been reinforced with extra steel piers in 1918, to a design of Victorian Railways engineer Frederick Esling.