The colourful exploits of Echuca’s ‘king’ Henry Hopwood

Sent to Australia as a convict after being caught with a pilfered roll of silk, Henry Hopwood reinvented himself as the “King of Echuca”.

Henry Hopwood, the ex-convict whose vision founded Echuca, and the river pontoon bridge he developed in the 1850s. Pictures: State Library of Victoria

In a time when the wild Australian landscape was tamed by even wilder ex-convicts, there was none as colourful as Henry Hopwood.

Born in Lancaster in 1813, he became a fabric merchant, got married and had a child.

But in 1838, after being convicted of dealing in stolen goods when he took possession of a pilfered roll of silk, he was sent to Van Diemen’s Land, never to see his wife and child again.

Luckily, Hopwood was clever.

Within a couple of years he was trusted enough to become a police constable, only for his bad streak to land him in trouble again.

Hopwood’s pontoon bridge over the Murray and his Bridge Hotel in the distance, which still stands. Picture: State Library of Victoria

His wife in England apparently long forgotten, Hopwood was sentenced to an extra two years for what some accounts described as an inappropriate relationship with the police master’s daughter.

But eventually he was let loose and wandered to Victoria, working as a meat processor before finding his way up to the Murray in 1850, where he found a new use for his cleverness.

Recognising the need for a river crossing at a bend in the Murray where drovers and farmers were growing in number, he scraped together his savings and built a river punt and a hotel on the Victorian side of the river.

To his delight, business boomed.

Within a few years a post office was opened and a little town popped up, known as Hopwood’s Ferry.

But soon the project would become a little too successful.

FISTS AND FEUDS

As years passed, the thriving township at Hopwood’s Ferry was renamed Echuca after an aboriginal phrase meaning “waters”.

The town now had a big wool and produce store, a local newspaper and a growing local population, all off the back of Hopwood’s river crossing.

The newly revamped hotel was going gangbusters, Hopwood’s punt service had become a full-on pontoon bridge and a telegraph line had connected Echuca to Melbourne and Adelaide.

Echuca was on the way to being the colony’s biggest inland port, now famous for its paddle steamers.

Hopwood himself was a ubiquitous figure, often seen in his light-coloured suits, huge top hat and carrying his signature umbrella.

His vision — and arrogance — led to his nickname, the King of Echuca.

An 1865 illustration of the thriving township of Echuca, featuring Hopwood’s hotel. Picture: State Library of Victoria

Meanwhile the steady traffic across the Murray was encouraging competition.

At one point or other, a man named James Watt decided to run his own punts across river close to the original crossing.

Hopwood was furious.

In the mind of the King of Echuca, this was his river crossing; his own damned creation.

Nobody had the right to muscle in and steal his idea.

According to one account, when Watt erected a windlass on the river bank to load goods onto his punts, the King of Echuca himself paid him a visit, and started tearing down the structure with his own hands.

When Watt tried to stop him, he was met with a punch in the face.

That landed Hopwood in court, but the feud didn’t end there.

Webb persisted with his plan to punt the river, hiring a crew to man his punts.

The belligerent Hopwood showed up on the river bank again and punched one of the puntmen.

And, again, ended up in court. But the ineradicable Hopwood never thought he had done anything wrong.

In a letter to the Riverine Herald he wrote: “It is worthwhile to remark that while violence used to rob a man is generally considered unwise, that of a man in defending himself from being pillaged becomes not only excusable, but highly commendable”.

The river crossing in action about 1870. Picture: State Library of Victoria

He was accused of being a bully and a monopolist but Hopwood didn’t care.

He loathed the government for doing nothing to protect his commercial grip on the river crossing, since no government had cared about Echuca before Hopwood built it up.

His feuds with locals were notorious.

In 1868 an Echuca boat operator borrowed from Hopwood a pitchpot — a pot used to heat and store a tar-like substance used on water vessels.

When the pot wasn’t returned, Hopwood flew off the handle and took the man to court for the negligible cost of the pot.

When a magistrate threw out the case, Hopwood got even angrier.

He put a notice in the local newspaper making everyone aware that the toll for crossing the river had to be increased until the cost of the pitchpot was completely recovered.

Another feud, with James Maiden of Moama, another punt operator and fellow ex-convict from Lancaster, lasted for years and sometimes resulted in sabotage, although Maiden and Hopwood eventually became good friends, confirmed when faced with a common threat.

THE NEW BRIDGE

By the mid 1860s, Echuca was in full swing and the colonial governments of New South Wales and Victoria started talking about a new bridge over the Murray, plans which Henry Hopwood angrily rejected.

After all, the town already had a bridge — Hopwood’s pontoon bridge.

Hopwood’s home, Apsley House, in Echuca, which later became a convent. Picture: State Library of Victoria

Olympic torch relay passes The Bridge Hotel in Echuca in 2000.

The King of Echuca claimed his service still provided everything the town needed and it was his right to continue without the interference of the government.

James Maiden of Moama backed up his old foe.

But the government didn’t listen and plans were drawn up for a big, permanent bridge over the river, which would devastate the river crossing that founded Echuca.

Hopwood became despondent about his pontoon bridge, gave up and went to Sydney for a while before returning to his beloved Echuca where he was struck down with Typhoid fever.

He died in his grand brick home, Apsley House, in 1869 at the age of 55 — nine years before a huge iron bridge across the Murray was completed.

The old King of Echuca is still revered as the town’s founder.

A monument to Hopwood stands in Echuca and the grand brick hotel that he built still stands and trades today, on Hopwood Place.