Eildon is a town in central Victoria, Australia. It is located near Lake Eildon, on the Goulburn Valley Highway, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area. At the 2016 census, Eildon had a population of 974. 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). Taungurung country is part of the Kulin nation. The name Eildon was given to the township by some of the first white settlers in the area, Mr and Mrs Archibald Thom in 1846, and was so named for its similarities to Mrs Thom's birthplace in the Eildon Hills near Abottsford in Scotland. History Eildon as a township came about due to the construction of the Sugarloaf Reservoir. 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). The town of Darlingford was moved closer to where the current township is now located. The Sugarloaf Dam was completed in 1929, and the original town of Darlingford is now completely underwater. Workers were brought into the town by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission to work on the building of the reservoir, and the shanty town called Eildon began to develop. Many lived in tents. The original Sugarloaf Dam could only hold around 10% of the capacity of the current dam, and so construction of the Eildon Dam commenced in 1951 and was completed by 1956 to increase the size and capacity of the lake. The Sugarloaf Reservoir Dam Wall sits about 100 metres behind the current dam wall, and is visible when the water level drops very low. Around 4,000 workers were required to complete the 1950s construction, and these workers were brought in, but required housing. The new township of Eildon relocated to the present position, and comprises a series of 300 semi-permanent houses in 14 different styles. Materials for the houses were pre-cut and fabricated in England and assembled onsite. Temporary houses and hostels were built to accommodate more workers. If you drive around Eildon today, you will see many houses are still