full size replica of Petrobus, the locally owned horse that won the Melbourne Cup in 1915
Home of a small farming community, the town occupies part of the historic Holey Plain grazing run.
Location: 187 km east of Melbourne.
Origin of name: Blind Joe, a Chinese man who was blind in one eye, had his hut here and the town became known as Blind Joe's Hut. The name was replaced by Rosedale in 1855 when it became the nearest town to the Baw Baw and Stringer's Creek goldfields. It takes its name from Rosedale Station which was opened up in the mid 1840s by David Parry-Okeden and his wife Rosalie who bequeathed her name to the village.
Brief history: Rosedale was established as a service centre in the middle of Snake Ridge Run at the point where the track crosses the Latrobe River. The first inhabitants were shepherds. Once a dairy and mixed farming district, it is now mainly grazing with the largest employer being Rosedale Leather, which established a large tannery in the early 1990s.
Natural features: Honeysuckle Hill; Holey Hill; The Long Swamp; Ben Winch Swamp; Toms Cap; Holey Plains State Park; Baw Baw National Park
Built features: Holey Plain historic homestead; Mechanics Institute (1863); St Mark's Church (1874)