The site of the 'Town of Kilcoy' was surveyed by W. E. Hill by April 1888, and the first land sale was on 6 November that year. The township quickly developed at the junction of Sheep Station and Kilcoy Creeks to service these settlers and their families. On 1 December 1892, a post office was opened at Kilcoy, and named Hopetoun post office, after Louis Hope (the uncle of the first Governor General of Australia, Lord Hopetoun, who was a visitor to Kilcoy Station). The township was referred to unofficially as Hopetoun. In 1908 the post office name was changed to Kilcoy, to avoid incorrect mail distribution to other towns of the same name in Victoria and Western Australia.