It was one of Daylesford’s busiest weekends. Tourists were taking advantage of a Victorian public holiday on Tuesday to flock to the town for a four-day long weekend.
One of the town’s most popular pubs, the Royal Daylesford Hotel, had families gathered in its beer garden, toasting the sunset and enjoying a relatively warm Sunday in November.
Now, the community is reeling from what happened just after 6pm, when a white BMW SUV mounted the kerb and hit patrons on the pub’s lawn.
A 38-year-old man from Tarneit and his 11-year-old son were killed. The man’s wife, a 36-year-old woman, and a second son, aged six, were injured.
A 30-year-old man and his partner, a 44-year-old woman and her nine-year-old daughter – all from Melbourne’s Point Cook – were also killed.
Police on Monday confirmed among the injured was an 11-month-old baby, who was transferred to the Royal Children’s hospital via the Ballarat Base hospital.
The investigation is in its “infancy”, police said on Monday. They expect to interview the driver, a 66-year-old Mount Macedon man on Tuesday. The man had been breath tested following the crash and had no blood alcohol in his system, police said.
Members of the Daylesford community – some of whom are gathering on Monday night for a vigil – are struggling to comprehend what happened.
Hepburn Shire Council’s deputy mayor, Lesley Hewitt, says the community is still in shock.
“It’s not something you expect to happen on what is usually one of our busiest weekends. It was a really lovely day,” she says.
“People are trying to process what did happen. It’s very early days.”
The Royal Daylesford Hotel’s visibly upset co-owner, Cameron Stone, told the Herald Sun that staff at the pub were distressed and being supported by counselling services.
“We wish to express our deepest sympathy for those who have passed away, those injured, their families and everyone affected by this terrible tragedy,” he said in a recorded statement.
Hewitt says first responders, including local State Emergency Services members who rushed to the scene, were particularly distressed after witnessing the aftermath of the crash.
The Victorian police chief commissioner, Shane Patton, paid tribute to the first responders on the scene on Monday morning, saying they would carry the scene with them for “many years”.
“It may haunt them forever,” he said.
“It’s one of the most confronting scenes, I’ve been told, that experienced officers have been to.”
Patton said the families were “visitors just going about their everyday life, just enjoying themselves on a beautiful Sunday afternoon”.
“It is an absolute tragedy,” he said.
Hewitt describes the community as close-knit.
“When something goes wrong, people pull together,” she said.
The Hepburn shire council is holding a vigil at the Daylesford neighbourhood centre on Monday evening. Hewitt says it will allow community members to reflect and share what they were feeling.
The local gin distiller Basil Eliades says Daylesford was a “beautiful community” where people knew each other well.
“Locals who know each other have been here for decades, and we all talk to each other when stuff like this happens,” he says.
