Hoppers Crossing, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = Hoppers Crossing
city = Melbourne
state = vic


caption =
lga = City of Wyndham
postcode = 3029
pop = 38,108 (2006)Census 2006 AUS | id = SSC21345 | name = Hoppers Crossing (State Suburb) | accessdate = 2007-10-01 | quick = on]
area = 17.8
est =
propval = $225,000 [ [http://www.domain.com.au/public/suburbprofile.aspx?suburb=Hoppers%20Crossing&postcode=3029 Hoppers Crossing] , accessed 27 November 2006]
stategov = Tarneit, Altona
fedgov = Lalor
dist1 = 30
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 5
location2= Werribee
near-nw = Tarneit
near-n =
near-ne = Truganina
near-w =
near-e = Laverton
near-sw = Werribee
near-s = Point Cook
near-se = Point Cook

Hoppers Crossing is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Wyndham. It is located 30 km West South West of Melbourne. Hoppers Crossing extends north from Princes Highway to the developing suburbs of Truganina and Tarneit.

Hoppers Lane runs through Werribee's animal research institute, crossing Princes Highway and the Railway Line, this street and the suburb were both named after the Hoppers family. Other major roads include Heaths Road (C701) and Derrimut Road (C702), Hogans Road, Morris Road, Tarneit Road and Sayers Road.

Transport System

Hoppers Crossing is serviced by the Hoppers Crossing railway station situated to the South of the suburb, on the Werribee line. An increasing number of bus routes service the surrounding area. A tramway was proposed for the Hoppers Crossing-Werribee area to replace bus services, however, it was deemed unfeasible by the City of Wyndham and State of Victoria.

History

Until 1963, Hoppers Crossing's only notable feature was a general store. In 1963 the town started to take shape, the first subdivision of residential land taking place. Growth of Hoppers Crossing followed into the 1970s. Hoppers Crossing's first shopping centre was built, called Woodville Park. In 1970, the area's first primary school, Mossfiel Primary School, had its first student intake.

In 1981, Hoppers Crossing Shopping Centre opened. This included a Target store, and 10 other stores. Between the years 1980 and 1994, Hoppers Crossing experienced a period of great growth, with the population growing nearly five times in size (from 8,500 to 40,000 people).

Werribee Plaza opened in the late 1980s. It was modernised between 2000 and 2006. Several significant redesigns and extensions have been built. It now includes shops such as Myer, Safeway, Big W, K-Mart, Coles, JB Hi Fi, The AFL Store, Adairs, Regent Cinemas, Best and Less and more. A small group of shops named Hogans Corner exists on the corner of Derrimut Rd and Hogans Rd. It has a Safeway, McDonalds, Red Rooster, Dairy Bell, Pulse Pharmacy and a number of other small shops. Another shopping centre, Wyndham Village, was built on Sayers Road in 2005, and is quickly expanding, it includes numerous shops including Coles, Aldi, The Warehouse (now known as Sams Warehouse), Donut King, CT lane and Video Ezy.

Also a large variety of warehouse and clearance sale shops are on Old Geelong Road, such as furniture shops and hardware stores. These shops include Bunnings Warehouse, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, Mitre 10, The Big Picture People, Pet Stock and many other shops. In fact, many of the shops located on Old Geelong Road are found nowhere else in the Western Suburbs.

A new shopping centre known as Point Cook Town Centre has now opened including shops, Coles, Aldi, Target, The Reject Shop, Fenix Fitness Centre and Harris Scarfe (opening 2009)

Parks

Recreation reserves mostly exist along drainage reserves and the local Skeleton Creek.

Fauna and Flora

Until recently Skeleton Creek had healthy populations of native reptiles, including;
* Tiger snake
* Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard
* Eastern brown snake
* Striped skink
* Stump-tailed skink

Due to development these species are now depleting in the area.

Education

There are currently six state primary schools in the suburb (Bellbridge, Derrimut Heath (1992), The Grange Primary Campus, Mossfiel, Woodville and Cambridge) and two state secondary colleges (Hoppers Crossing Secondary College and The Grange P-12 College's Secondary Campus).

There are two Catholic primary schools: St Peter Apostle and St James the Apostle Primary School, and a Catholic Regional Secondary College: Thomas Carr College. Other religious schools include an Islamic College (Prep to Year 12), Heathdale Christian College and Westbourne Grammar School (Prep to Year 12), though Westbourne is disputably in Truganina.

The Werribee campus of Victoria University is in Hoppers Crossing. It offers TAFE and higher education courses.

In 2006 the principal of Derrimut Heath Primary, Julie Mason, was chosen as the "Wyndham Citizen of the Year" for her key role in the development of the "Wyndham Community Education Plan 2004-2007" and serving as chair of the "Quality Community Plan Education Committee". [cite web | url = http://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/council/media/2006/3086/citizen | title = Wyndham 2006 Citizen of the Year Announced | date = February 10, 2006 | work = City of Wyndham council | accessdate = 2007-06-06 ]

Entertainment

In Hoppers Crossing, there has been a nightclub at the Werribee Plaza, Volt, for some time and in recent years a cinema was built at 'the plaza'. Also, there is a skate park in the area and numerous offroad bike tracks. There are a number of clubs for those interested in sport. Recreation for young people is hampered by a relatively poor transport system, but for younger children in the area there is the Wonderland Indoor Play Centre, near the Bible College and next to Hoppers indoor-sports were there are indoor soccer teams operating. DJ superstar DJ Datson resides in Hoppers Crossing.

Sports

Hoppers Crossing has many gyms and sports grounds. There are facilities for tennis, soccer, Australian rules football, basketball, netball and more. In 2004 part of the Federation Trail was in Hoppers Crossing for cycling. A new soccer complex was built at the Grange for the Hoppers Crossing Soccer Club. They previously played at Mossfield Reserve which is now a rugby football field.

Hoppers Crossing Cricket Club [http://hoppers.cricketvictoria.com.au/index.html] was formed in 1977 and its first team was entered into the “B turf" section of the Sunshine Cricket Association in season 1977/78. The result in the club's first season was runners-up. For more information, visit it's article at: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoppers_Crossing_cricket_club]

References

External links