Romsey is a town in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Macedon Ranges in the state of Victoria, Australia. The town is located 61 kilometres (38 mi) north of Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Romsey had a population of 4490.

History

The Post Office opened on 16 January 1858, but was named Lancefield until January 1860 and Five Mile Creek until March 1860.

The original location for the settlement known as Five Mile Creek was approximately 2 kilometres north of the present township. The restored Royal Mail Hotel still stands on this site although it is now a private residence.

The former Romsey station was a significant stopping point on the now dismantled Clarkefield-Lancefield railway between 1881 and 1956.

Today

Romsey has a skate park, two petrol stations, two banks, two supermarkets and a primary school. The local Lions Park is built around Five Mile Creek, a small creek running through the town. A public library operated by the neighboring Shire of Mitchell opened in 2008. To accommodate this extensive renovations were carried out in the historic former Shire Offices and post office buildings.

Local sporting groups include Romsey Football Club competing in the Riddell District Football League.

Lancefield is a town in the Shire of Macedon Ranges Local government area in Victoria, Australia. The town is located 92 kilometers north of the state capital, Melbourne and had a population of 1,184 at the 2006 census.

History

The area was used by the Wurundjeri Aboriginal people as a quarry site for the manufacture of stone axes and was first settled by European squatters in 1837. The main source of these stone tools was at Mount William, to the north east of Lancefield.

A Lancefield Post Office opened on 16 January 1858 in the Romsey/Five Mile Creek area, 6 kilometers to the south. In 1860 this was renamed Five Mile Creek when Lancefield Post Office opened in the present township.

Lancefield's elevation and climate made it a popular summer resort in the 1880s. In recent years, many local wineries have been established in the area.

The town has a connection to the Kelly Gang; for it was here that Constable Fitzpatrick, the instigator of the Kelly Outbreak in 1878 was finally found by the Victorian police to be no good and for his actions was finally discharged from the force.

Lancefield district had a reputation for some of the best fertile soils in Victoria. Prior to being cut up into small blocks during the early 1970s the region produced high yields per acre of potatoes, fat lambs, fat cattle, wheat and other cereal crops.

A large fossil deposit from the Pleistocene epoch was discovered at Lancefield swamp, containing the remains of many species of extinct megafauna, including ; Macropus titan, a giant kangaroo; Diprotodon, a rhinoceros-sized wombat; and Genyornis, a giant flightless bird.

The local Australian rules football team, Lancefield Football Club competes in the Riddell District Football League.

Golfers play at the course of the Lancefield Golf Club on Heddle Road.

Burke and Wills

The Burke and Wills expedition camped at Lancefield on their journey to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They arrived here on 23 August 1860 and made their fourth camp out of Melbourne. A marker at the site of the original town at Mustey's Bridge on Deep Creek commemorates the site of their camp. The route of their departure northwards from the town is commemorated by the road to Mia Mia, which was named 'Burke and Wills Track' in their honour.

Railway

The old trestle bridge on the railway near Clarkefield

A railway branch line off the Melbourne-Bendigo line originated at Clarkefield (known then as Lancefield Junction) and ran to Bolinda, Monegeetta, Monegeetta North, Romsey and Lancefield, arriving in 1881. Later, on 6 April, 1892, an eastern loop was built out of Lancefield across to Kilmore. This was one of the most infamous white elephant late-nineteen century rail projects of the then Victorian government, the other being the Melbourne Outer Circle.

The Lancefield-Kilmore line was not only an expensive project for it had to climb the Lancefield Gap, but due to the steep nature of the topography, it meandered to Kilmore, across almost uninhabited land with little or no passenger custom, or freight use. The line was so unsuccessful that it was closed on 1 June, 1897, however the tracks were not torn up until 1917. Some of the old right of way is visible around the Lancefield Gap and on the approach into Kilmore. For such a short section of railway, this line had a significant number of stations, or at least named stopping-points. From Lancefield to Kilmore, stopping points included; Mount William, Goldie, Springfield, Highpark and Forbes.

The Lancefield-Clarkefield line was closed in 1956 when the wooden trestle bridge near Clarkefield required extensive maintenance repairs. Though the railway right of way no longer exists, the massive earth works onto the decaying trestle bridge is visible from the road-side at the Bolinda bridge. The old Lancefield railway station almost disintegrated after its closure and has a new lease of life now as a refurbished Bed and Breakfast cum garden nursery. None of the other stations remain.

Notable people

John Allan, the 29th Premier of Victoria, was born near Lancefield in 1866.

Breaker Morant and Bushveldt Carbineers connection

On his release from prison in England in 1904, George Witton came to Lancefield and lived in the town for several years. Witton of the Bushveldt Carbineers was charged along with Breaker Morant and Peter Handcock of murdering captured Boers during the Anglo-Boer War. Witton was found gulity of murder and sentenced to be shot, but this was commuted to life of penal servitude. Morant and Handcock both found guilty and sentenced to be shot were executed in Pretoria on 27 February 1902. Witton (who had never been to England) was sent to England and held in prison until released due to public pressure from Australia. It was to Lancefield that he came in broken health on his return to Australia and wrote his angry book, Scapegoats of the Empire (1907). In the introduction to his book that he stated he was living in Lancefield. When due for publication a fire destroyed all but several copies of the book. In 1982, Angus and Robertson re-published the book following the success of the movie Breaker Morant.