Welcome to Rochedale
With its rich and fertile soil Rochedale has long been associated with farming and a number of farms still remain today. The suburb was named after the Roche family, early Irish settlers in the area who grew grapes and small crops with later generations expanding into dairy farming and choko growing. Rochedale has several schools and is conveniently located close to shopping centres and both the South East Freeway and Gateway Motorway.

Statistics
Rochedale is roughly 21km south of Brisbane’s CBD. Over 48% of households in this area are comprised of couples with children and a further 11% are single parent families. Stand alone houses account for over 71% of all dwellings. The area has plenty of green space to relax in. There are market gardens and small farms in this area, and houses tend to be very large.

Shopping
Civic Fair on Newnham Road at Wishart or Eight Mile Plains shopping centre on Padstow Road both offers a range of stores, or there’s Garden City at Upper Mount Gravatt just a couple of suburbs away.

Locals Comments
Julie says: I grew up here and have lived in Rochedale for 35 years . It has everything at your door step - shops on every corner great for the young family with lovely clean parks and BMX tracks for family fun on weekends, and Rochedale Rovers for entertainment at night for the adults. The older style of houses give it great character.

Location
21km south of Brisbane CBD.

Features
Large acreage lots, new developments

Profile
Rochedale, in Brisbane's south, has traditionally been a rural area, home to residential acreage allotments and great tracts of land used by market gardeners. The area also contains industrial development, including the Brisbane landfill and the Austral Brick Quarry. Council and developers have recently shown renewed interest in rezoning the area to allow greater residential development, in order to help house Brisbane's expanding population. Bordered by Burbank, McKenzie, Rochedale South, Wishart, and Eight Mile Plains, Rochedale residents - mostly families - will find many of the services and facilities they require in neighbouring suburbs. Garden City Shopping Centre provides major retail services for residents in Rochedale and also has a bus interchange for those seeking public transport to local centres or Brisbane City. Families are serviced by Rochedale Primary School; surrounding suburbs offer an increased variety of schooling including public and private secondary schools. The Gateway Motorway is conveniently located and offers residents good access to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, as well as the Brisbane domestic and international airports.

Aboriginal history
There is little evidence of aboriginal use in the Rochedale region – the river and bay provided much better hunting grounds. There was, however a bora ring on Mt Cotton, and Mt Gravatt-Capalaba road was probably based on a track, which they used to travel from Logan to the bay. Kate Roche told stories of aborigines living in the area and helping the young immigrant family.

Urban development
Early explorers frequently passed through or near Rochedale during the period of the convict settlement, but they failed to comment on its hills and creeks, being set on exploring further afield. After free settlement was allowed in 1842, development took place at Upper My Gravatt and Beenleigh, but Rochedale existed only as a portion of Eight-Mile Plains. Its proximity to Logan road, which was a major road by the 1860s, ensured that it would soon be opened up.

Settlement at Rochedale began around 1865, when the first settlers moved into the area to farm the rich alluvial soil. At the end of the nineteenth century, most of the area was dedicated to farming. By 1888, most of the land in the suburb was in private hands, but most landholders owned several large blocks, so the population was very small. The Gardner family bought nearly half the suburb. Closer settlement began around the start of the twentieth century as market gardens became established in the region. Tropical fruits and vegetables were the major crops. In the early 1920s the large estates were broken into small blocks, which continued to operate as farms. When the large Roche estate was broken up some farmers moved in to use the rich soil.

In 1931 Rochedale state School opened with 27 pupils. In 1965, the’Summit’ estate offered 24 allotments on the higher part of the suburb. From then, the real estate developers followed in the farmers path and the Rochedale area became covered in large residential estates, specifically designed for young families. In 1973 three quarters of the population was under 35 and all he houses in the centre were only five years old. Rochedale grew fast until the mid nineties. From 1991 to 1996, the population fell – 1285 to 1252. There is a brickworks and landfill site in primarily residential suburb.

Notable residents
The Roche family settled in the area in the 1870s. T. Roche may have gone shearing to get the money to start his orchard and vineyard. Later these and his wine provided an income. The Roche home was a landmark in the area, with social and musical gatherings popular there. An annual cricket match for Brisbane journalists was held there. William Roche was involved in the erection of the second school at Eight-Mile Plains in the 1870s. Catholic Church services were held at tom Roche’s house when the priest came from Beaudesert every three months.

William Roche was born in Limerick in Ireland in 1838. He migrated to Australia around 1861 and married Kate McDermott in Brisbane in 1867. She had arrived in Moreton bay from Ireland three years earlier. In 1868, they leased 50 acres of land in Rochedale and in 1875, they bought it outright, having already fenced it and built a homestead there. Subsequently, he selected another 361 acres, in three portions, which included the land now occupied by Rochedale State School. William cleared the land and planted grapes and an orchard, and also went shearing for a period each year to pay for the property. Kate managed the farm and looked after their only child, Thomas, who was born in1872. William died in 1902 at 64 years old and Kate died in 1915 at 75. The homestead was called ‘Rochedale’ in 1916, but it is situated in ‘Eight Mile plains’ - after World War I the land was no longer used for grapes but for small crop farming.

Emil Obrist and his family came to the Broadwater area in the Nineteenth century. In 1900 they bought land from the fisher family, on the red-soil ridge at Rochedale and Miles Platting Roads. Fruit and vegetables were sold and provisions brought from Brisbane. The children walked through the bush to get to the school at Eight-Mile Plains. In 1912, Emil Obrist put down the first water bore in the suburb

Landmarks
Roche Homestead still there in 1988. Built on portion 334 by Emil Obrist for William and Kate Roche between 1868 and 1875. The land was cleared and fenced and William Roche planted grapes and a citrus orchard there. After Williams death it passed to his wife, Kate and later their son, Thomas. By 1916, the property was known as ‘Rochedale’ though the suburb was still unnamed. After Thomas’ death in 1918, the estate was divided and sold, although son Tom acquired the homestead block. . After World War I, the Roche land, was turned over to small crop farming and by the 1930s, there were pineapples and tomatoes. Later he moved towards dairying and established a milk run there. After the Second World War the last portion of the Rochedale Homestead was sold. House still there in 1988, set back from Rochedale road with six tall pines

Reference: BRISbites, 2000