Its population was less than its 500 neighbours across the Goulburn in nearby Mooroopna.
Modern views of history suggest that towns needed to reach a population of about 500 and quickly if they were to have any hope of surviving in the long term.
At this size they could offer services in order to attract farmers to them, and the spread of towns, in turn, indicated the number of people living in the outlying countryside and within horse-and-buggy striking distance of the town.
The breakaway was a natural move towards local self-government and a move that created a good deal of ill will between Echuca and Shepparton as the boundaries and the assets within were adjusted.
Echuca withdrew its councillors, severed the town’s water supply and even saw fit to shut down the public hall for which it had paid to be built.
“No payment, no hall” it declared, and promptly placed an armed sentry on guard at the hall.
Sheppartonians understandably took mighty umbrage and refused to pay the Echuca Shire; they took to the fray and placed their own council delegate on guard at the front of the hall as part of a “plan of attack”.
It was arranged for the employee to have his lunch of “thick sandwiches and a billy of cold beer” under a nearby gum tree to tempt the Echucan guard, and while the latter waded into his free-found meal, another council employee, Arthur Benson, (who happened to be the council’s inspector of nuisances) stormed the hall from the rear and took charge of the building and the guard’s rifle.
The News, a public meeting and the inaugural meeting of the Shepparton Shire Council held on August 18, 1879, all endorsed the pluck of the unilateral action, the council demanding the town’s pumps and other assets be returned immediately.
Benson rejected the guard’s pleadings to “give us me gun” and fired a warning shot over his head.
History doesn’t record the fate of the hapless guard who, when thus challenged, supposedly cleared for the Murray.
Echuca had one last shot from its arsenal, placing an advertisement in the August 7, 1879 issue of The News calling for tenders for the sale or lease of the hall.
The upshot is unknown, but presumably there was no response to the advertisement because Shepparton’s folk enjoyed the use of what was described as their trophy hall for many years thereafter.
