Echuca has today the largest fleet of paddle steamers in the world.
HENRY HOPWOOD, BORN 1813
A COLOURFUL LIFE OF CRIME AND ENTERPRISE
Henry Hopwood, the son of a Bolton manufacturer was convicted in 1834, at the age of 21, for receiving as stolen goods a roll of silk. His punishment was to be transported to Tasmania for 14 years. A resilient person with the gift of the gab, he alternated over the next few years between work as a policeman and periods in prison. His crimes included ‘aiding and abetting the abduction of his master’s daughter’. He found employment on the banks of the Murray River, north of Melbourne, working in a ‘boiling-down works’ which rendered animal carcases to extract fat and fertiliser. When this business closed be bought an old punt and operated it as a ferry across the Murray River. He then played a key role in creating a town around the crossing, to be known as Echuca. He built a bridge and a school and started a newspaper. He also built a hotel, the Bridge Hotel, which remains in business. He died at 55, and is respected in modern Echuca as the father of the town.
Click below to view his life story: