The creek was named in honour of John Oxley who first surveyed it in December 1823. Initially Oxley had called the creek the Canoe Creek. This was in recognition of the first Europeans to reach the creek, Thomas Pamphlett, John Finnegan, Richard Parsons who reached the area after being shipwrecked on Stradbroke Island. At Oxley Creek the three found two canoes, one of which was used to cross the river and travel downstream. By 1825 it had become known as Oxley Creek.