EIGHTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD Jim Rae can remember when Hoppers Crossing had no telephones, sewerage, letter boxes or street lights.
The only shop was Kopacka’s General Store, and milk and bread were delivered to houses in a horse-drawn cart until the 1970s.
As one of the area’s first residents, Mr Rae recalls woolly sheep grazing for years around the Baden Dr house he’s called home since 1963.
Although much has changed in “Hoppers”, the grandfather and great-grandfather of 20 still enjoys reminiscing about his fascinating life.
Among his keepsakes is his certificate of title, signed by the original developer of Hoppers Crossing, Harold Baden Powell.
Mr Powell, a former shearer, first developed “Powell Estate”, an area bordered by Old Geelong Rd, Heaths Rd, Baden Dr and the rail line.
In those days, land blocks sold for about $600, but doubled on second sales.
Mr Powell was to develop several more estates over the years, and is now known as the father of Hoppers Crossing.
Today the area is home to about 50,000 residents and contains both large and small shopping centres, all within easy distance of Mr Rae’s walker and his baskets.
“There have been many changes and I think they’re all great,” he said.
Mr Rae said the attraction of Hoppers Crossing when he first came was the fabulous fishing he discovered years earlier in the Werribee River.
“I used to drive up here from the other side of the city because it was so good,” he said.
He and his beloved wife, Thelma, left for a new life in the West after raising their two children in the bayside neighbourhood of Parkdale, near Mordialloc.
Their love of camping, travelling and fishing is still evident today.
Mr Rae’s detailed maps of Port Phillip Bay’s prime fishing spots are kept in well used notebooks that would be of more use to a modern fisherman than any sophisticated fish detector.
In fact, his fishing skills were so good that Mr Rae was widely known for selling carefully filleted trays of snapper, flathead and whiting from his well stocked freezer.
He celebrated his 60th anniversary with Thelma in 1997, only a year before she suddenly passed away.
“She was my life,” he said.
Now long-retired from his career as an entrepreneur and engineer, Mr Rae also enjoys reflecting on his carefully compiled photo albums detailing his years as a supply and transport officer in the Middle East, Asia and Europe during World War II.
