Rochester, Victoria

Rochester is a town in the Shire of Campaspe, Victoria, Australia. It is located 180 km (110 mi) 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 2021 census, Rochester had a population of 3,154.

The area around the Campaspe River was known as Yalooka, which for thousands of years was home to the Pinpandoor, the local tribe of Aboriginal Australians.

Rochester (via Rowechester) was named after Dr John Pearson Rowe, who had a hotel here before the township was gazetted in 1855. The Post Office opened on 11 May 1863 and the town was reached by the railway line from Bendigo (connecting it to Melbourne) in 1864.

The Rochester Magistrates' Court closed on 1 January 1990.

The town was 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 Malvern Star bicycles to the museum.

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 Murray Goulburn (dairy processing) factory was a large employer, but it closed in late 2017. There are also several other smaller industries.

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

Spare time in Rochester often revolves around sport, with tennis, cricket, 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 known as the Tigers, who won the GVFL premiership in 2012.