Jancourt is a rural locality 12 km south-east of Cobden, western Victoria. It was named after a pastoral run taken up in 1845.

Closer settlement farms were later occupied and a school was opened in the 1880s. Immediately east there was the Heytesbury Forest. During 1928-33 parts of the forest east of Jancourt were cleared for dairy farms, and in the 1950s more of the forest was removed, except for 25 sq km kept as a reserve. It is the only significant remnant of the Heytesbury Forest (of which 430 sq km was cleared), and it is known as the Jancourt Forest.

The Jancourt East school was opened in 1913. Both schools have closed, Jancourt in the 1970s and the other in 1981. The district is mainly dairying and grazing. There are a hall and a CFA facility between Jancourt and Jancourt East.

Jancourt’s census populations have been:

area census date population


1911 230
  1961 337
Jancourt East and environs 2011 288

At the 2011 census, dairy farming accounted for 56% of employment.

Further Reading

J. Fletcher, The infiltrators: a history of the Heytesbury 1840-1920, volume 1, Shire of Heytesbury, 1985

J. Fletcher, And we who followed: a history of the Heytesbury Shire 1971-1987, Shire of Heytesbury, 1987