The Thorpdale district, known at first as the Narracan district, was settled by Europeans in the 1870s. The first European settlers arrived from the old Melbourne – Sale Road via McDonalds Track, a stock route that had been surveyed in 1862 through the hills from Lang Lang to Morwell Bridge, but which later became disused and very much overgrown. Land selection began at Narracan (near the eastern end of the track) in 1873, and progressed steadily along the track, reaching Narracan West in 1876.