Rochford
Rochford is a farming locality 7 km south-west of Lancefield, south of the foothills of the Cobaw Ranges. The Rochford village was at the five-ways intersection of the Woodend and Monegeeta Roads. The origin of the name is uncertain.
An Anglican church (1860) was probably the genesis of the village, which acquired a blacksmith, two stores, a creamery and two hotels. A school was opened in 1858 and a public hall in the 1870s. Notable pupils were Sir Henry Gullett, Member of Parliament, and Edith Onions, founder of the Melbourne Newsboys Club.
Rochford was described in 1903 in the Australian handbook:
The school was closed in 1948, and the Anglican and Presbyterian churches were dismantled during the mid-1960s. The ruins of the blacksmiths remain as the chief landmark.
Rochford’s census populations were:
| census date | population |
|---|---|
| 1881 | 50 |
| 1911 | 258 |
| 1947 | 87 |
Further Reading
John Reid (ed), When memory turns the key: the history of the Shire of Romsey, Bacchus Marsh, 1992
Gavin Smith, All wild and lonely bush: a record of Kerrie, Cherokee and Rochford, Romsey, 1994
