John Rout Hopkins (18 August 1828 – 20 December 1897) was a politician in the Colony of Victoria.

History

John was born in

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent (Tasmania), River Derwent, it is the southernmo ...

on 18 August 1828, the second son of Henry and Sarah (née Rout) Hopkins. He left for Victoria as a young man, for the life of a pastoralist in

Winchelsea, Victoria Winchelsea is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Surf Coast Shire local government area, the suburb or locality of Winchelsea is predominantly within Surf Coast Shire with a small section within the Colac Otway Shire. Wi ...

, west of

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, to manage his father's property Murdeduke, then owning the "Wormbete Estate" and became quite wealthy. In 1850 he acquired St Stephen's and River stations. In 1854 and 1855 he occupied the Mount Hesse run. He married Eliza Ann, daughter of George Armytage, by whom he had six sons and seven daughters. His daughter Eliza Mary Ann married Samuel Thomas Staughton Sr. in 1874. He was on the Barrabool Shire Council for thirteen years and was its first president and on the Winchelsea Shire Council for thirty-two years and was president for three terms. He was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

in 1864 and served in the terms 1864–1865, 1866–1867, 1871–1874, 1874–1877, 1892–1894. He seldom spoke in parliament, but was an active local member and a great supporter of

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

, being dubbed the "Father of the Local Government Act". He was a longtime councillor and served as

Mayor of Geelong This is a list of the mayors of the City of Greater Geelong, a local government area, and the second largest city in Victoria, Australia. Before amalgamation in 1993 the central area of Geelong was covered by the City of Geelong, with the surrou ...

from 1892 to 1893. He was a very social person who entertained lavishly. On 5 June 1888 he married Mrs Susan Emily Rucker and Alice Roberta Purkiss on 5 October 1892. He died on 20 December 1897 at his home in St Kilda and was interred in the Armytage family vault at the Geelong Eastern Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, John Rout Australian pastoralists Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Mayors of Geelong 1828 births 1897 deaths Politicians from the Colony of Victoria 19th-century Australian businesspeople 19th-century mayors of places in Australia Politicians from Geelong