Rochester, Victoria

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. It has a co-educational public Secondary College with 470 pupils in 2004. 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. Agriculture plays an important part in the economy of Rochester. Primary agriculture includes dairy, tomato , cattle and sheep farms. There are also some grain and seed farms. The Devondale (Dairy processing) factory is a large employer, and there are several other smaller industries. 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 its own railway station.

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Coordinates: 36°21′40″S 144°42′02″E / -36.361127, 144.700666