I've just returned from a holiday to Echuca, one of many I have enjoyed. The local historical societies may be interested in my observations. Echuca, Moama and the places on the two routes, via the Hume Freeway and the Calder Freeway, are packed with history and information about pioneers. Unfortunately the tourist booklet about Echuca/ Moama produced by the HISTORIC Riverine Herald, established by Henry Hopwood in 1863 (exact date shown in the Merool Holiday Park on one of the cabins recalling history) does little to make you feel at home. It lists the accommodation and eateries but there is no map to indicate where they might be. Therefore your first stop should be the excellent information centre accessed by a road, to the left just before you cross to Moama, which also leads to the historic port. They have a large, free map of Echuca/Moama. An inspection of historic buildings between the information centre and port, such as the brothel which the GENTLEMEN could visit via a shady lane without being seen, is fascinating.

The weather was unusually miserable but a stroll under verandahs, looking at the historic buildings, whose establishment and various uses are detailed brilliantly on plaques, was a great way to get out and about without getting soaked. The only trouble was finding out which streets offered such an opportunity, hence, get the map first up. It was great to read about the members of the historical society who got the national trust to assess Echuca's heritage value and pushed for restoration of the port. We discovered certain stretches of verandahs and historic buildings only by chance, but where was the main drag?

Interestingly, both Moama and Echuca were established by former convicts, James Maiden and Henry Hopwood respectively. Some local historians have been busy and the Wikipedia pages for both towns contain excellent historical information. There is also a sheet entitled HENRY HOPWOOD'S ECHUCA available from the information centre. Details presented on Wkipedia, and on the sheet, supplement that available on the other.

Just as you enter Merool Rd, there is a street on the right named Maiden Smith. Of course, I thought it was named after a pioneering woman but then I found out about Maiden's Punt, established well before Henry's. One of the old buildings was constructed by Henry and later owned by James McCulloch. Serious research can uncover links between any two places, such as Percy Hurren snoring in church in the Mallee, being postmaster at Moorooduc in 1950 and farming on Dalkeith and joining the Tullamarine Progress Association by 1951. (David Shepherd, descendant of the Somerville pioneer and Edward Jones of Moorooduc and his wife who came from the Mallee.) I wondered if James McCulloch was related to William* McCulloch of river boat fame who bought "Glenroy Farm" Melway 16 H2. (*Can't find my copy of BROADMEADOWS A FORGOTTEN HISTORY at the moment.)

I still can't find the book but luckily my Broadmeadows Shire Farms journal specifies that William McCulloch bought Glenroy Farm in 1874. This was, if I remember correctly, between Hilton St and Rhodes Pde/Boundary Rd and extended east to the east boundary of the Northern golf course. William's biog. in the Australian Dictionary of Biography makes little mention of James, but the entry for James by the same author, includes the following:
McCulloch, James (1841–1904)

by Samuel Clyde McCulloch

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, (MUP), 1974

James McCulloch (1841-1904), businessman, was the third brother of William McCulloch. Educated at Douglas Academy, Newton-Stewart, he migrated to Melbourne in 1863 and joined the carrying company named after and directed by William. James worked first in Castlemaine but early in 1865 was sent to Echuca to open a branch of the firm. Although capital and guidance came from the Melbourne headquarters, James's energy, persuasiveness and diplomacy helped him to negotiate contracts with squatters for the carriage of their wool clips. He also acquired a small fleet of riverboats and barges. The company soon commanded most of the forwarding business from stores and offices opposite the wharf. On 27 February 1867 James married Alice Bolton, only daughter of Henry Hopwood.

Of interest in the William McCulloch biography are the statements that he bought several (unnamed) farms near Melbourne and that he was responsible for the railway line to Deniliquin (McCulloch was also a founder and director of the Moama-Deniliquin railway, opened in 1876.) Glenroy Farm is not relevant to this journal but there is a lengthy article in my A LOT OF BULL ABOUT GLENROY journal about William's thoroughness in establishing the farm and his famed (Bates) shorthorn herd with much detail about lineage. See:
(The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912) Saturday 9 December 1882 p 1036 Article)

THE QUILT HOUSE AT COBRAM, AND OTHER TOWNS.
Echuca can be complimented on the aforementioned heritage plaques. I hope the same applied to the towns on either route which also boast a huge number of heritage buildings. Kilmore's stone hospital is magnificent as is
Heathcote's hotel currently being repainted. Returning via Bendigo we drove up the steep hill just past the Shamrock where (Dame Nellie or Lola Montez?) demanded that the bell be silenced, to see the sensational Roman Catholic cathedral.

Cobram could have one of the greatest non-heritage tourist attractions in Australia. Some towns have the Big Pineapple, the Bottle House etc., but I'm calling Sylvia's house the Quilt House and I had a go at convincing her to open it to tourists for the sake of her town. I am not an arty crafty person and hate craft markets, being a trash and treasure type, but I was in awe of her wall hangings and other decorations, both inside and outside her house. I had thought that Quilting involved making patchwork quilts but her wall hangings, of intricate design, covered almost every wall, the house, both inside and out, being a work of art.

Why was I so concerned about Cobram, which we visited to see our wives' old Red Hatter friend? She took us to Cobram's beach. A painting in the nearby restaurant, done by a local old timer,is a magnificent bush scene and the proprietor threatens not to let you leave until you spot the kangaroo and the two dogs in the scene. A bit of fun which provides the sort of tourist experience that lingers long after the holiday. After this task, I read a notice near the beach. Basically, it carried a warning similar to this.

Blue Green Algae
The Murray River is still safe to visit however do not injest the water between Hume Dam to near Swan Hill. There is a red alert issued for blue-green algae.

In other words, you can look at our greatest river but don't touch. Governments of any persuasion must maintain flows in our rivers!

I reckon a holiday in which you do things that you could easily do at home are a waste of time and money. Emphasising a town's history is one way to attract visitors who share this philosophy but unique experiences must be offered by wineries and restaurants to compete with those closer to home. Festivals are a good start!


SO THAT'S WHY JAMES McULLOCH LATER OWNED HOPWOOD'S BUILDING! THE TOP-HATTED PIONEER REMINDS ME OF JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER.
Hopwood, Henry (1813–1869)

by Susan McCarthy

This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, (MUP), 1972

Henry Hopwood (1813-1869), founder of Echuca, was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, son of Henry Hopwood, manufacturer, and his wife Mary, née Kelly. His bookshelves in later years suggest that he acquired at least a passing acquaintance with some Latin authors. On 11 December 1832 as a gilder in Liverpool he married a widow Fanny Wagdin (Walkden), née Roberts(?). On 8 March 1834 as a labourer he was convicted at the Lancaster Assizes for receiving stolen silk and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation.

Hopwood arrived at Hobart Town in the William Metcalfe on 4 September. For 'orderly conduct' he was made a police constable in February 1835. For breaching regulations by living with a woman not his wife in 1838 he was sentenced to a road-gang for a year. In May 1839 he 'aided and assisted' the abduction of his master's daughter and was sent to Port Arthur for two years. He received a ticket-of-leave on 22 December 1842 and rejoined the police. He was conditionally pardoned on 15 January 1846. In February 1844 he had submitted plans for supplying water to Launceston from the South Esk River. In 1845 he was 'an active, intelligent and well-disposed' clerk to a district constable's office but was denied a post in the public service when he applied in April 1846.

When his sentence expired Hopwood moved to Port Phillip and became overseer of boiling-down works on the Murray River near the future site of Echuca. When the works closed, he knocked together the huts, licensed them as the New Road Inn and had a punt for crossing the river. In 1853 when Francis Cadell and William Randell demonstrated the navigability of the river, Hopwood sent his plans for a town to Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe and, perhaps with prior knowledge, leased a section of the Wharparilla run, newly gazetted as the site for a future town. Early in 1854 the town of Echuca was surveyed and named, and the first land sales held in April. Hopwood was a keen bidder. He built his Criterion Hotel 'of iron and bits and pieces' where the Echuca Club now stands, and claimed that his new punt cost £1500. In January 1855 he became postmaster at Hopwood's Ferry; by March he had opened a butchery, bakery and boiling-down works and by November a large iron store. In 1856 his remarkable pontoon bridge spanned the Murray, and in 1857 he bridged the Campaspe River, his rights secured by a special Act. Later he built a brick store, organized a school, planted a vineyard, published a newsletter and in March 1859 opened the Bridge Hotel.

Hopwood's first wife died early in 1857, and in 1859 he married Charlotte Walters of Bendigo. After a brief retirement to St Kilda he returned to Echuca in August 1860 to run the Bridge Hotel. As patron of the town he was largely responsible for attracting Angus Mackay and James Joseph Casey to publish the Riverine Herald at Echuca in 1863. In 1864 he leased the Bridge Hotel to a manager and retired from public life, save for a blustering six months from August when he served on the Echuca Road Board. Aged 55 he died of typhoid on 1 January 1869. His daughter Alice, born in Tasmania about 1845, married James McCulloch in 1867 and died without issue in 1895.

Energetic and resilient, Hopwood's undisclosed conviction undoubtedly corroded his public self-confidence. He was noted for arrogant outbursts, stormy quarrels and petty disputes, but also for intense loyalty to friends and kindness to those he deemed needy.