Rochester, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Rochester
state = vic


caption = Shamrock Hotel
lga = Shire of Campaspe
postcode = 3561
est =
pop = 1849 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC26545 | name = Rochester (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
elevation= 105
maxtemp = 21.3
mintemp = 9.0
rainfall = 437.6
stategov = Rodney
fedgov = Murray
dist1 = 179
dir1 =
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 63
dir2 =
location2= Bendigo
dist3 = 73
dir3 =
location3= Shepparton

Rochester is a small town in country Victoria, Australia. It is located 180km north of Melbourne with a mixture of rural and semi-rural communities on the northern Campaspe River, between Bendigo and the Murray River port of Echuca. At the 2006 census, Rochester had a population of 1849.

History

The Post Office opened on 11 May 1863. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

The town is famous as the birthplace in 1904 of Australian racing and endurance cyclist, Sir Hubert Opperman, affectionately known as Oppy. There is a museum dedicated to Oppy in Moore street, and a statue of him winning the 24 hour Bol D'Or race in Paris in 1928. On his 90th birthday "Oppy" donated one of his trusty Malvern Star bicycles to the museum.

The Town today

Agriculture plays an important part in the economy of Rochester. Primary agriculture includes dairy, tomatoes, cattle and sheep. There are also some grain and seed farms. The Devondale (dairy processing) factory is a large employer, and there are several other smaller industries.

It has a co-educational public Secondary College with 470 pupils in 2004.

Spare time in Rochester often revolves around sport, with tennis, cricket, hockey, basketball, Australian rules football, netball, lawn bowls, cycling and swimming all well supported. The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Goulburn Valley Football League. Citation | last = Full Points Footy | title = Rochester | url = http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/Rochester.htm | accessdate = 2008-07-25 ]

The town has its own railway station.

References