# Tom Hopkins — While the Billy Boils character guide

> Tom Hopkins in While the Billy Boils by Henry Lawson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Long Tom Hopkins, Long Tom, Tom

**First appearance:** 0003-settling-on-the-land

## Snapshot

A tall, slow-witted bushman whose comic misadventures among the shearers and cooks expose the rough humour and petty cruelties of shed life.

## Who they are

Tom Hopkins moves through the world of the shearing shed with a lumbering, good-natured bewilderment, caught up in the pranks and grumblings of the men around him. He is the sort of figure who watches a cook's poodle get shorn for a lark and then listens to the cook's furious teatime tirade with the same slow incomprehension. His presence anchors the comic set-pieces, showing how bush humour can be both bonding ritual and casual cruelty.

## Relationships

### [The Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/the_narrator)

_friendship_

Tom Hopkins is a fellow bush worker and mate of the narrator, often sharing hardships and camaraderie in the outback.

### [Mr. James Mitchell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/mr_james_mitchell)

_friendship_

Mitchell and Tom Hopkins are fellow swagmen and mates, sharing yarns and the camaraderie of the road.

### [The Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/the_narrator)

_friendship_

Tom Hopkins is a fellow bush worker and mate of the narrator, often sharing hardships and camaraderie in the outback.

### [The Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/the_narrator)

_friendship_

Tom Hopkins is a fellow bush worker and mate of the narrator, often sharing hardships and camaraderie in the outback.

### [Mr. James Mitchell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/mr_james_mitchell)

_friendship_

Mitchell and Tom Hopkins are fellow swagmen and mates, sharing yarns and the camaraderie of the road.

### [Mr. James Mitchell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/mr_james_mitchell)

_friendship_

Mitchell and Tom Hopkins are fellow swagmen and mates, sharing yarns and the camaraderie of the road.

## In the story

### [While the Billy Boils](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/chapters/while-the-billy-boils)

Central figure in the story of selecting land at Dry Hole Creek and later losing his farm and sanity.

### [Settling on the Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/chapters/settling-on-the-land)

The protagonist who settles on the land and endures a series of agricultural and legal disasters.

### [His Father's Mate](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/chapters/his-father-s-mate)

Known as 'Long Tom' or 'Tom the Devil,' a one-eyed, good-natured English digger who stutters and is a special crony to Isley, often giving him tips on where to find gold.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters/tom_hopkins
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/while_the_billy_boils_se/characters