Rochester, Victoria

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This article is about the town in Victoria, Australia. For the city in New York State, United States, see Rochester, New York.

Rochester
Victoria

Population:

2,620 (2001 census)

Postcode:

3561

Elevation:

105 m

Location:

179 km from Melbourne
63 km from Bendigo
73 km from Shepparton

LGA:

Campaspe Shire

State District:

Rodney

Federal Division:

Murray

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
21.3 °C ^{70 °F}	9.0 °C ^{48 °F}	437.6 mm ^{17.2 in}

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 2001 census, Rochester had a population of 2,620.^[1]

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.