Happy Valley, Victoria (Golden Plains Shire)  Happy Valley is a town located in the Local Government Area of the Golden Plains Shire. It shares the same name with Happy Valley in Northern Victoria. Happy Valley is a former gold mining town south-west of Ballarat that is now only a rural locality. Gold was discovered in the area, originally called ‘Wardy Yallock’ (thought to have meant "winding yellow river" of aboriginal origins) in 1849 as part of the Australian gold rushes, with intensive mining beginning in 1853.