Enfield

Enfield is a rural locality 21 km south of Ballarat, on the road to Rokewood.

The village came about from the discovery of the Little Hard Hills goldfield in 1856, generally two or three kilometres south-west of Enfield. Another locality, Whim Holes, is north of Enfield. Until the late 1870s the locality was known by its gold-mining names, but in 1879 the name of the parish, Enfield, was given to the village on the Rokewood Road.

There was a school at Little Hard Hills (1859) and in 1864 a Wesleyan church and school were opened at the future Enfield village. In 1878 the school was taken over by the government. Enfield was an alluvial mining area, with timber-cutting in the Little Hard Hills to the west. The hills supplied mine props and firewood for Ballarat.

In 1911 the forest was also used for eucalyptus-oil distilling, and there was fruit-growing near the village. The school closed in 1935 and the Methodist church building was removed in the 1940s. The Little Hard Hills hotel has nevertheless continued, and the hills themselves are named the Enfield State Park.

Environmental tests revealed excessive levels of lead in Enfield's water supply in 2007-08.

Enfield's census populations have been: