Corporal Mathew Ricky Andrew Hopkins, 7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment

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Corporal Mathew Ricky Andrew Hopkins, 7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment

Australian War Memorial

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Mathew Hopkins was born on 27 August 1987 in Christchurch, New Zealand, and arrived in Australia with his family the following year. He grew up in Brisbane, and attended Kenmore High School in the western suburbs. He was a keen rugby league and rugby union fan, supporting the Brisbane Broncos and the Queensland Maroons.

Mathew was extremely keen to join the army, which he did in March 2005 at the age of 17. After completing recruit training he was allotted to the Royal Australian Infantry Corps. Qualifying as a rifleman at the School of Infantry, Mathew was posted to the 5/7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment in September.

Hopkins deployed to Afghanistan on Operation Slipper with the 1st Reconstruction Task Force from November 2006 to April 2007. After his battalion was delinked into two separate battalions at the end of 2006, he remained with 7RAR. In June 2007, Mathew was temporarily promoted to lance corporal. Later that year he qualified as an M113 armoured personnel carrier crewman commander. The following year saw Matthew promoted, achieving the rank of corporal before turning 21.

Mathew met Victoria online and after chatting remotely for a while, the two met in person in Newcastle. Victoria moved to Alice Springs to be closer to Darwin, where Mathew was based, and the couple explored the country around Uluru. After becoming engaged they soon had a baby on the way.

Mathew deployed on his second tour of Afghanistan with 7RAR in October 2008 as part of Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force 1. However, he was able to get leave to return home in February 2009 to marry Victoria and be present for the birth of their son, who they named Alexander. They had four days together as a family before Mathew had to return to Afghanistan.

Mathew was temporarily attached to Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team 3, which provided assistance to the Afghan National Army through training and capability development. Australian troops also accompanied the Afghan troops on operations.

On the morning of 16 March 2009, Mathew was on a patrol near the village of Kakarak, about 12 kilometres north of the Australian base at Tarin Kowt. The patrol split into two groups, with Mathew in the group led by the Officer Commanding OMLT-3, Lieutenant Jacob Kleinman, with Major David McCammon accompanying as an observer.

As the nine Australians and approximately 40 Afghan troops advanced, suspicions were aroused when two Afghans were spotted running away. While they were unarmed and couldn’t be engaged, the patrol soon came under fire from around 20 enemy insurgents using automatic assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Hopkins and Lance Corporal Taraborrelli moved quickly to a nearby compound, which they secured and began returning fire. As enemy fire intensified, now coming from multiple directions, the Australians fought back with the help of some of the Afghans, eventually allowing those exposed on open ground to get to cover.

As enemy fire erupted from yet another direction, Hopkins and Taraborrelli relocated outside to the left rear of the compound, where Mathew threw himself behind a nearby mound of dirt to get a better bead on the enemy. Before long he was struck in the head by a bullet. As his comrades worked fast to treat Hopkins’ wound, they radioed for urgent support from attack helicopters and a medevac chopper. Combat First Aider Private David Cox sprinted across 60 metres of open ground to render first aid, but Mathew was showing few vital signs. The medevac chopper took him to the hospital at Tarin Kowt, but he was dead upon arrival. The wound was later deemed to be non-survivable.

Three days later at a dusk Ramp Ceremony, Mathew’s body was taken aboard an RAAF C-130 for the journey home to Australia. A similar ceremony took place at RAAF Base Williamtown on the 23rd of March. On 27 March a funeral service was held at Christ Church Cathedral in Newcastle before Mathew Hopkins’ remains were laid to rest at Lake Macquarie Memorial Park. He was 21 years old.

>His mates in 7RAR knew Mathew Hopkins as a professional soldier and a leader who looked after his men. He held army values as a source of inspiration, particularly those of courage and mateship. “Hoppy”, as he was called, was known as an approachable, down-to-earth guy who could at times be a larrikin and enjoyed joking around. Victoria remembers him as her love, and as a husband thrilled with becoming a father.

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