It wasn’t exactly ‘tumbleweeds blowing down the main street’, but 60 years ago the area known as Hoppers Crossing was different—mainly paddocks, stone fences, thistles, rabbits and a snake or two. Infrastructure was scant and scattered and ‘going into town’ meant a trip to Werribee.
But love came to the rescue!
In the late 1960s the first wave of baby boomers was marrying, and market conditions for purchasing land and building a family home had never been more attractive. Banks and builders were ‘on board’ and the fields of ‘Hoppers’ were transformed. Proximity to older areas like Williamstown, Footscray, Altona and Yarraville meant strong and consistent demand. As importantly, many of the couples were school friends, and so a sense of community and inclusion was immediate.
Schools, shopping centres, sports complexes and light industry followed. Accessibility to the CBD and a connection to Geelong and the surf beaches sweetened the mix.
The baby boomers, now in their seventies, have stayed, but the legacy continues as many of their offspring have chosen to ‘buy, build and breed’ in the ‘Hoppers’ area.
The Rotary Club of Hoppers Crossing was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Werribee and chartered in September 1979, and from the outset has been engaged in all aspects of Rotary service.
Wynspeak (‘Wyn’ – depicts the Wyndham area) is a youth public speaking competition that the Rotary Club of Hoppers Crossing has operated for the last 15 years. It is a two-tiered competition—Junior (Years 7-9), and Senior (Years 10-12), and involves over 30 secondary schools from all over the western suburbs.
With the help of a Rotary Foundation grant, the Club has, for the last 4 years, joined with the Rotary Club of Accra, Ghana, to fund a project that provides expertise for enhanced diagnosis of diabetes. The project is very close to the hearts of members, as the current President George Dade is a Ghanaian and a doctor. Both he and his wife Gifty, a diabetes nurse, have provided significant guidance on the project’s progress. In addition, a designated project container has been provided by Donations in Kind (DIK) for the carriage of much needed medical equipment to one of the hospitals in Ghana.
The Rotary Club of Hoppers Crossing has also been a major supporter of the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA), and even hosted the first symposium in our District.
Another community initiative, with the advent of COVID-19, has been the Uniting Wyndham project. Rotary Hoppers Crossing, in conjunction with the Hoppers Crossing Apex Club, provides cooked meals each week for 40 needy local recipients. This project also supports a local business, the DiCaprio Restaurant that, incidentally, has been the meeting venue for Hoppers Crossing Rotary Club for over 20 years.
President George Dade and Secretary Dave Robson are coordinating the current Club ZOOM meetings, but look to the ‘not-too-distant’ return to a normal agenda and the culinary delights of the DiCaprio at 88 Derrimut Road, Hoppers Crossing (every Wednesday, 6.30 for 7.00pm).