Victorian ghost town ‘Australia’s Schitt’s Creek’ finally sold – realestate.com.au

A Victorian ghost town dubbed ‘Australia’s Schitt’s Creek’ has just been sold, from the hotel to the mine ruins, in a seven-figure deal that took three years to close.

It comes as a colonial village in Maldon prepares to reopen to tourists and a Victorian man in his 80s who has been coached by John Jarratt to impersonate Wolf Creek serial killer Mick Taylor has revealed he is still looking after his own mannequin-filled town in the Wild West.

The impressive village comes complete with a movie house, brothel, saloon, cemetery and prison.

RELATED: Abandoned Cockatoo mansion for a Grand Designs-style makeover

Harkaway estate with Yellowstone atmosphere comes on the market

Marlboro Man’s Pitchfork Ranch goes on the market for $79.8 million

In the latest transaction, the former Gippsland mining town of Coopers Creek has completed a torturous sales effort that began in 2022 when it was put up for sale for $2.5 million to $3 million and advertised as the Aussie Schitt’s Creek.

Schitt’s Creek, a Canadian television show about a wealthy family who falls on hard times and moves to a small town they bought as a joke, ran for six seasons.

Coopers Creek was founded during the Gold Rush of the 1860s, but the hotel closed in 1952 and most of the buildings became abandoned.

An entrepreneur later bought out the town’s titles and passed the 4.45-acre plot to his family, and his son reopened and ran the pub until 2007.

The former mining town of Coopers Creek in Gippsland has a new owner after being put on the market in 2022. During the sales campaign it became known as “Australia’s Schitt’s Creek”.

---

Actors Catherine O’Hara, Dan Levy and Eugene Levy in the hit television show Schitt’s Creek which aired on the ABC in Australia. Image: supplied.

---

Coopers Creek was established in the 1860s.

---

Ian Mason of Jellis Craig North East said the ghost town was sold not long after it was listed, but the deal was never completed, with another buyer purchasing the property off-market in November.

Mr Mason declined to comment on the price, but industry sources indicated it was a seven-figure deal.

“The new owner is from that part of the state and is going to use it for their family to go camping and enjoy the area there,” Mason said.

It’s not the only uninhabited Victorian village to get a false start after being put on the market.

Chris Olver in the Wild West village he built on his estate in Yandoit over the course of more than twenty years. Photo: Tim Carrafa.

---

Mr. Olver named his village Cross Creek in honor of a town featured in the 1956 film The Fastest Gun Alive.

---

Mr Olver also acts as a double for Wolf Creek actor John Jarratt at events and charity appearances. He is depicted as serial killer Mick Taylor.

---

The wild west village of Cross Creek, near Castlemaine, was built by Chris Olver, a fan of Western films and stand-in for Wolf Creek actor John Jarratt at events such as the Supanova comic and gaming convention and charity appearances.

Mr Olver, 80, used recycled materials he collected as a truck driver for the project at his and his wife Shirley’s property in Yandoit.

He has now spent more than two decades setting up Cross Creek, which even has a replica church, a stagecoach booking office, a blacksmith and mannequins in period costume.

“It actually kind of got out of hand because I started, I built one, and then I built another,” Mr. Olver said.

“Before I knew it, I had a piece of the city in my hands.”

Cross Creek Church has a mannequin priest and congregation. Photo: Tim Carrafa.

---

There’s also a cemetery with fake headstones and a mining emplacement, a nod to Yandoit’s Gold Rush history.

---

Cross Creek is not open to the public, but Mr. Olver occasionally organizes car clubs, college student film shoots and organizations like Probus in exchange for a donation. Photo: Tim Carrafa.

---

Mr. Olver enjoys watching old films on the cinema’s 16mm projector, entertaining family and friends in the summer and occasionally welcomes a car club or Probus visit.

In 2023, he and Shirley put their house on the market because they were “no longer spring chickens,” but ultimately chose not to sell because they loved living there.

Mr Olver is also part of the Wolf Creek Traveling Show, which promotes Australian films and raises money for charities.

Organizers Glenn Bertram and Lyndon Holt recruited Mr Olver as a replacement for actor John Jarratt who played Wolf Creek’s main character, sadistic serial killer Mick Taylor.

“John Jarrett showed me exactly how and what to do,” Mr. Olver said.

“He told me, ‘Look, go into the bush and talk to trees, or start talking to kangaroos in Mick Taylor’s voice and grin and do it well because people will ask you to do it’.”

Five years ago, Maldon’s Porcupine Village was sold to a new owner who hopes to reopen it to the public. Manager Doug Baird stands on the main street. Photo: Rob Leeson.

---

There is a funeral parlor in the village, complete with coffins. Photo: Rob Leeson.

---

And about 16 miles away, the former tourist attraction Porcupine Village in Maldon is still preparing to reopen to the public after closing in 2005.

Records show the site, a mix of Gold Rush-era buildings and duplicates, sold for $1.75 million five years ago.

In June 2025, then Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny granted planning permission for a $1.9 million upgrade to the village, including an events center and museum, a wildlife park and a motel.

In connection with the reopening, an opening date of late 2025 has been reported, but this does not appear to have been achieved.

Porcupine Village was contacted for comment.

Porcupine Village has a Cobb & Co office. The stagecoach company ran until 1924 when the last service operated in Queensland. Photo: Rob Leeson.

---

VICTORIA’S WILD WEST CITIES

Coopers Creek, Gippsland – known as “Australia’s Schitt’s Creek”

Former gold rush town from the 1860s

Features: two campsites, two bedroom house, gated hotel and mine ruins.

Cross Creek, Yandoit

Private village built by homeowner Chris Olver on his property

Features: Salon, Courthouse, Jail, Store, Church, Blacksmith, Movie Theater, Stagecoach Booking Office, Brothel, and Grain Store.

Porcupine Village, Maldon

Replica of an 1850s gold mining town

Features: 32 buildings, some original from the period and some replicas, including a bathhouse, hotel, funeral home, school, blacksmith, post office, doctor’s surgery, seamstress, mining shop, police station, general store, butcher, bank and houses.

The historic gold mining town of Valhalla. Photo: Mark Stewart.

---

Valhalla, Gippsland

Well-preserved 19th century gold mining town

Features: Heritage buildings such as shops and hotels, the Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mine tourist attraction, Walhalla Goldfields Railway and Walhalla Tramline Walkway.

Pioneer Settlement, Swan Hill

Living History Museum

Features: About 50 buildings from the 1830s to 1930s, including a blacksmith shop, a general store, a schoolhouse, farms, a post office, a bakery, a carriage house and a printing shop with an original treadle.

The Sovereign Hill tourist attraction is located in Golden Point, near Ballarat.

---

Sovereign Hill, Golden Point

Open-air museum of a recreated gold rush town from 1850

Features: About 60 buildings, including shops, hotels, a theater, schools, residences, jeweler, pharmacy and bakery, plus underground mines.

Howqua Hills Historic Area, High Country

Former gold mining area

Features: Historic cabins, a 100-foot tunnel called Tunnel Bend built in 1884, the remains of a brick chimney and a smelting furnace.

Sign up for the Herald Sun weekly property update. Click here to receive the latest news from the Victorian property market straight to your inbox.

MORE: How a car dealer built Beaumaris’ ultimate garage

Ballarat East church transformed from $520,000 home to $1.8 million home

The remote Ocean Grove bush block, which earns $30,000 annually, is for sale