Back in the day: Lorna McNamara’s grandparents outside their home at Clifford in its heyday.
JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A STORY in the Independent last month about the discovery of a lost town west of Geelong transported reader Lorna McNamara down memory lane.
Mrs McNamara said she spent her childhood at her grandparent’s property in the former town of Clifford at the intersection of Princes Hwy and Cape Otway Rd.
VicRoads contractors duplicating the highway unearthed remnants of the town last month. The discovery interested Heritage Victoria, with archaeologist Jeremy Smith inspecting the site.
VicRoads confirmed the town, established in 1853, had a school, a church, a store, a hotel, a post office and a blacksmith.
“My grandparent’s property was called Clifford Hill and it was an Ayrshire dairy cattle stud,” Mrs McNamara recalled.
“It was a real coincidence when I picked up the Independent and read about it.”
Mrs McNamara said discovering the information about her childhood town was like putting together pieces of a family history jigsaw puzzle.
“I can faintly remember my grandparents talking about the blacksmith’s shop. There were a few branches of the Rogers – my grandparents’ family name – living around Clifford.”
Mrs McNamara dug out some potted histories of the area, including a former Barrabool Shire record.
The booklet noted: “The hundreds of motorists who drive by daily could not realise that the little town of Clifford was once a busy little centre of the shire.
“At the end of the long climb from Waurn Ponds it was a natural port for weary travellers and their beasts to take a rest.
“In the late 1860s Cr Ambrose Walter noted that the road junction was ‘obstructed by numerous wagons and vehicles outside the hotel’. The attention of Moriac police was directed to ‘this nuisance’.
“Little evidence remains today that this was once a busy centre.”
Heritage Victoria’s Jim Gardner said the discovery was “quite rare”.
“There’s a strong likelihood of there being historical artefacts, so we’ve issued a consent to excavate, record, store and conserve any material found.
“This will become part of the research record available to historians and researchers.
“The artefacts often tell an important story when the written records are scant and this is one of those cases. It can tell us how they lived, their social status and what activities took place in this town.”
Mr Gardener said Heritage Victoria was keen to inspect Mrs McNamara’s historical documents.
