Hoppers Crossing, Victoria

Hoppers Crossing is a suburb in the Wyndham area, an area rich and diverse in its Aboriginal history which was inhabited by the Boonwurrung and Wathaurong People who belong to the Kulin Nation. There are five different language groups in the Kulin Nation that are particular to this region.

These groups operated within their own tribal boundaries. However, with the shifting of natural boundaries over the years and the growth of Australia’s population, the old tribal boundaries are not so widely known. The collective traditional territory for the tribes of the Kulin Nation extends around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. The clan Kurang-jang-balluk lived east of Werribee River and up to Kororoit Creek. Their name refers to red earth, the colour of the volcanic plains of Iramoo. After the first disruption of British colonisation, the remaining members of the Woiwurrung joined other Kulin language groups at Coranderrk in 1864. This broke cultural protocols that had been tended for many generations. The clan was forcibly displaced again in 1924. In the wider district, there are places named after Aboriginal people or animals. Truganina, for Palawa woman Truganini. Mambourin, a Barrabool man. Balliang (bat), Cocoroc (frog), Parwan (magpie).

The locality of Hoppers Crossing was named after Elizabeth Hopper, who was a gatekeeper of the level crossing over the railway line now called the Werribee line. Her duty was to close and re-open a set of large wooden level crossing gates whenever a train passed through. She and her husband, Stephen Hopper (1832–1908), a railway ganger for 33 years, lived nearby with their eleven children. Stephen Hopper was also a labourer, who had arrived in Victoria in 1856 from a village in Dover, England. He was then in his early 20s and presumably came for the gold. The name was in common usage by 1910.[2]

Other names in Hoppers Crossing also point to settler history. The roads Heaths, Hogans and Morris are named after farming families. Baden and Powell Drives are named for HL Baden Powell, an ex-shearer who subdivided land for housing in the 1960s. He was a fan of the Richmond Football Club, so many of the streets in this estate are named after players, including Jack Dyer, Frank Hughes and Kevin Bartlett. Until the early 1960s, the locality was mainly open farmland and the only notable feature of Hoppers Crossing was Frank Kopacka's general store. In 1963, the first subdivision of residential land took place by former shearer Harold Llewellyn Baden Powell. However, basic infrastructure such as telephones, sewerage and even kerb-side post boxes was only built more than five years later after lobbying from the Hoppers Crossing Ratepayers Association.[3]

Hoppers Crossing grew rapidly from the 1970s. The suburb's first primary school, Mossfiel Primary School, had its initial student intake in 1970, the year of opening of the railway station. The first shopping centre, Woodville Park, was built soon afterwards,[4] and the post office opened in 1975.[5]

In the late 1980s, Werribee Plaza first opened its doors. Between 2000 and 2006, it underwent many important redesigns and extensions.

In the 2016 census, there were 38,701 people in Hoppers Crossing. 58.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were India 5.9%, New Zealand 2.7%, Philippines 2.6%, England 2.2% and Myanmar 1.8%. 60.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Arabic 2.6%, Punjabi 2.0%, Italian 1.9%, Mandarin 1.7% and Hindi 1.6%. The most common responses for religion were Roman Catholic 27.4%, No Religion 22.4% and Anglican 8.1%.[6]

Pacific Werribee shopping centre in Hoppers Crossing

• Hoppers Crossing Shopping Centre opened in 1983.[7] It included a Target store (a Baby Target store for a brief period in the mid-nineties), Safeway Supermarket and 10 other stores. Following a $10m major redevelopment in 2016,[8] the centre has expanded to include a range of speciality retail and food outlets, and replaced Target with a Coles Supermarket.

• Pacific Werribee opened in 1985, originally categorised as a regional shopping centre. The centre has since undergone seven stages of major expansion and redevelopment since 2000. The current complex design was completed in 2017, and the shopping centre was rebranded as Pacific Werribee. It now includes major local retailers Myer, Target, Big W, Kmart, JB Hi-Fi, Adairs, Best & Less, as well as international retailers H&M and Uniqlo. It also has a Village Cinemas complex, around 300 speciality stores, and major supermarket chains.

• Hogans Corner opened in 1997–1998. It includes a Woolworths supermarket, Dan Murphy's, and several speciality stores and fast-food restaurants.

• Old Geelong Road is a commercial precinct running over several kilometres.[9] The precinct contains a large variety of big box homemaker and warehouse retailers, including Bunnings Warehouse, The Good Guys, Chemist Warehouse, Harvey Norman, Autobarn, Supercheap Auto, Forty Winks, Petbarn, Anaconda, BCF, Salvos Store, Vinnies, and many more.

There several parks including playgrounds and recreational areas generally 2-4 blocks of land in residential streets. Recreation reserves mostly exist along what once was a river or stream, although now serve as drainage reserves and the local Skeleton Creek (Snakes are common near Skeleton Creek).

Skeleton Creek, which runs along the suburb's eastern edge, has healthy populations of native reptiles,[10] including:

• Tiger snake
• Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard
• Eastern brown snake
• Striped skink
• Stump-tailed skink
• Brushtail possum

Hoppers Crossing has many gyms and sports grounds. There are facilities for tennis, soccer, Australian rules football, basketball, netball, lawn bowls and more. In 2004, the Federation Trail was opened, which links Werribee with Brooklyn, and soon Yarraville.

A new soccer complex was built at The Grange for the Hoppers Crossing Soccer Club. They previously played at Mossfiel Reserve, which is now a rugby football field. Founded in 1971, the 'Reds' have won 5 senior championships (1999, 2001, 2012, 2014 and 2015) and will compete in the Football Federation Victoria State League 2 Nth/West division in 2017. One of the most popular clubs in the region, Hoppers Crossing SC currently field 20 teams across junior, senior and masters age groups.

The Hoppers Crossing Football Club, nicknamed the 'Warriors', play at Hogans Road Reserve. They currently compete in the Western Region Football League first division, where they won senior premierships in 2002 and 2004. The Warriors are one of the biggest clubs in the league, boasting numerous junior sides as well seniors and reserves.

Hoppers Crossing Cricket Club, known as the 'Cats' was formed in 1977 and its first team was entered into the "B turf" section of the Sunshine Cricket Association in season 1977/78. The result in the club's first season was runners-up.

Hoppers Crossing is the home of Australian Olympic Gold Medalist Russell Mark and his wife Lauryn, a triple Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist.