the first-known event held on 13 April 1868. A Rosedale Turf Club was established in 1878. It became the Rosedale Racing Club, which conducted races until 1969. Patrobas, the three-year-old winner of the 1915 Caulfield Guineas, Victoria Derby and Melbourne Cup finished second in his first race at Rosedale. Patrobus was raced by Miss Widdis, the owner of the nearby Nambrok station. She was the first woman to own a Melbourne Cup winner. Patrobus is the only Gippsland horse to win the Melbourne Cup. A statue of the horse is located in the main street. Following the closure of the Rosedale Racing Club, the racecourse was developed as a golf course and a speedway. The first speedway meeting was conducted in 1972. In February 1973, the speedway attracted some of the best drivers throughout Australia to the inaugural Coca-Cola Bottlers 2000 meeting. The race was won by the reigning Australian champion, David House, from Canberra, driving a Torana GTR XU1. The course broadcaster for the first decade was Kevin Andrews, who then worked as a sports commentator and reporter. The Rosedale Speedway has twice hosted Australian Championships. In 1980, Queensland driver, Arthur Wieden, won the first of four national Standard Sedan titles. In 2002–03, Stephen Laidlaw successfully defended his Australian Production Sedan title. Notable people Sport Neil Cordy, Graeme Cordy and Brian Cordy – Australian Rules Football players with Footscray Football a Club (now the Western Bulldogs) who attended the Rosedale Primary School. Geoff Raines – Australian Rules Football player with Richmond Football Club who lived in Rosedale as a teenager. Keith Rowley, winner of the inaugural Herald Sun Tour, was born at Rosedale. Politics Kevin Andrews – Cabinet Minister in the Howard and Abbott governments, currently 'Father of the House of The Australian Parliament' – attended Rosedale Primary School. Edward Jolley Crooke, owner of 'The Holey Plain', represented the district in the Legislative Council of Victoria for 30 years (1893-1922) and was a Rosedale Shire councillor for 46 years. Gallery References The Age Rosedale Wellington Shire Gwen Hardy (1989) Rosedale – 150 Years Pictorial History [Rosedale Historical Society, Rosedale] Don Mcreadie (1989) The Rosedale Story Vol 1 [Don Macreadie, Cowwarr] I T Maddern (1971) The Centenary History of the Shire of Rosedale, 1871–1971 [Shire of Rosedale, Rosedale] 1855 establishments in Australia Towns in Victoria (Australia) Shire of Wellington