20th May 2006
Search for the illusive Rosie goes on

THE search for rock'n'roll's most ample and arguably most famous groupie has moved to Wynyard.

Australian rock band AC/DC immortalised "Rosie" a "42-39-56 whole lotta woman" in its 1977 classic Whole Lotta Rosie.

The song celebrated singer Bon Scott's nocturnal hotel encounter with Rosie, which appears to have been on the West Coast, despite some accounts placing it in Melbourne.

While Scott died in 1980, current singer Brian Johnson dedicated the song to Rosie, from Queenstown, in Hobart some years back. A hunt for Rosie then started on the West Coast not least because of the band having huge inflatable Rosies on stage but was unsuccessful.

Queenstown's Rosie Wedd said some people thought it was her, but it was not.

It has now emerged Rosie was a Wynyard girl who was at the band's 1976 Queenstown concert.

"She was definitely from Wynyard," according to West Coast mayor Darryl Gerrity.

"I was talking to a woman who knew she was from Wynyard, but that's all she knew."

Queenstown woman Janine Francis was 15 at the time and remembered the Queenstown Memorial Hall concert well.

Ms Francis said she did not know "Rosie".

"It wasn't until a few years ago when they came out with inflatable 'Rosie from Queenstown'.

"They had the blow-up doll and they were trying to ascertain who she was."

Wynyard AC/DC fan Kathy Smith, who heard the Queenstown story, tried to track down Rosie.

Only one person thought they knew who Rosie was and that the "suspect" had left the area long ago.

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