The area, also known as Wattle Flat,[2] lies along the Muckleford Creek, a minor tributary of the Loddon River, approximately 127 kilometres north-west of the Melbourne city centre, and within the jurisdiction of the Mount Alexander Shire council.

The region is characterised by gently undulating terrain featuring several farms and smaller rural properties.

Formed over millions of years, the land contains many types of quartz sand, gravel and clay, with more fertile alluvial deposits along the Muckleford Creek valley.

The land to the west of Muckleford is characterised by sparse eucalypt forest of box ironbark, some areas of which were mined for gold in during the 19th century.

Rilens Road, surfaced with yellow gravel, used to have a single raised telephone wire on wooden poles on its north side, which served local farms and houses.

[9] There was no major development in the area until a series of small gold rushes occurred near Muckleford Creek and Wattle Flat in the early 1850s,[10] and a small town quickly sprung up in the vicinity of the Maldon to Castlemaine Road and Muckleford Creek crossing.

[12] In 1884, Muckleford railway station was opened to the north of the township, on the Castlemaine to Maldon branch line.