Hoppers Crossing

Hoppers Crossing is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23.1 km south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area.

Hoppers Crossing is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23.1 km south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Hoppers Crossing recorded a population of 38,701 at the 2016 Census.

The suburb is named after the family of StephenHopper (1832-1908). In the late 19th century, Hopper's wife, Elizabeth, was the gatekeeper at the level crossing where Hoppers Lane (Old Melbourne Road) crossed the Geelong-Melbourne railway, adjacent to the present Hoppers Crossing railway station.

The name Hopper's crossing was in common usage as early as 1910, named after the Hopper family who lived on a farm near the rail crossing.Stephen Hopper was a railway ganger for 33 years, and his wife Elizabeth Hopper attended the railway gates for many years before boom gates were installed. The original Hoppers Crossing was the spot where the Princes Highway crossed the Melbourne to Geelong railway line. Railway workers on the line knew the area as Hopper’s Hill, due to the steep gradient from Skeleton Creek where goods trains would often have to haul their cargo up in two sections.Until the early 1960's, 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 like telephones, sewerage and even kerb-side post boxes were only built over 5 years later, after lobbying from the Hoppers Crossing Ratepayers Association.Hoppers Crossing grew rapidly from the 1970s. The suburb's first primary school, Mossfiel Primary School, had its initial student intake in 1970, and the railway station opened on 16 November 1970. The first shopping centre, Woodville Park, was built soon after. The Post Office opened on 2 June 1975.