Lubeck

Lubeck is a rural village in the Wimmera region, 35 km east of Horsham and on the railway line 17 km south-east of Murtoa. It is in an area which received numerous settlers of the German-Lutheran tradition, and was most likely named after the city of Lubeck in northern Germany.

Lubeck is located near roads used for the gold escort route (1850s) and from Stawell to Horsham. A hotel known as the Halfway House was opened in the Lubeck district in 1869. Closer settlement by farm selections began in 1871. The development of the village coincided with the extension of the railway line from Stawell to Murtoa in 1878, whereupon the Railway Hotel was opened. A second hotel, the Commercial, was opened, and traded until 1960. Several stores were also opened, the last one trading until 1975. A school was opened in 1883.

In 1887 Lubeck was chosen for the beginning of a branch railway line to Rupanyup, and it became a local freight and passenger centre. A flourmill operated at Lubeck for about ten years during the 1880s-90s. The station handled grain, wool, livestock and produce from local creameries. A mechanics' institute was opened in 1890, replacing a smaller building from about ten years before. The institute building has been replaced by a memorial hall.

Lubeck was described in the 1903 Australian handbook:

Although Lubeck suggests the prospect of a local Lutheran church, the first church building was shared by Methodists and Presbyterians. That may explain how Lubeck kept its name during the period of name changes caused by anti-German feeling from World War I. An Anglican church was also opened.

A concrete grain silo was built at the railway station in 1939 and it has been supplemented by steel bins. Local hotel and shop trade diminished after World War II, ending with the store closing in 1975. The school was closed in 1990. Railway activity was reduced when the Rupanyup branch line was closed in 1983.

Lubeck has a public halll and a recreation reserve. Its census populations have been: