Footscray Wharf Historical Precinct (Footscray)

This area has a number of interesting historical and artistic elements. They include:

Footscray Wharf - The original confluence of the Yarra River and Maribyrnong River (formerly Saltwater River) was slightly downstream from this location.

Continue along the Port Heritage Trail to discover more about the history, development and current operations of the Port of Melbourne. Melbourne's waterways have changed significantly since the city's establishment in 1835, due to the need for direct deep access and the demands for riverfront development. Today the port is managed by Port of Melbourne Corporation, whose precursor was founded in 1877 as the Melbourne Harbor Trust.

Prior to the 1880s, the Yarra River was relatively shallow and difficult for large ships to navigate. In 1879 the Melbourne Harbor Trust engaged English engineer Sir John Coode to review Melbourne's waterways. He came up with a plan to create a shorter, straighter canal directly to Melbourne's docks, altering the natural course of the Yarra River by cutting across the sweeping arc which curved away to the east.

Coode's recommendations resulted in the construction of Coode Canal, 12,000 feet (800 metres) long, 300 feet (100 metres) wide and 25 feet (8 metres) deep, bringing the confluence of the Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers further south but retaining the scouring action of both rivers which reduced silt deposits at the river mouth.

Coode Canal opened in 1886 and resulted in the creation of "Coode Island", bounded by the Canal on the south side and the former course of the Yarra River to the north. The island was used as a quarantine station for stock and buildings were erected there in the early 1900s in case isolation for Bubonic Plague victims was required.

Eventually the original Yarra River course began to dry up and by 1909 reclamation works had begun. While still known as Coode Island, there is no longer an island form and the land is now part of Swanson Dock, the largest international container facility in Australia.

Wharves were originally constructed by individual factories established along the riverbank at Footscray in the 1860s. The factories used the wharves for transportation of materials and finished goods, and the river for dumping their waste.

The various wharves were maintained by the individual factories until the 1880s when the Melbourne Harbor Trust became responsible for all port berthing facilities. The Trust replaced the existing wharves with a continuous wharf structure which stretched the entire length of the existing Maribyrnong Street, with equal lengths on either side of Footscray Road. This new wharf continued to service the factories lining the riverfront but was also used for unloading general cargo for other businesses.

In 1917, a railway line was installed parallel to the river and the tracks remain alongside the road. Factories and boat builders continued to use the wharf until the gradual closure of local factories in the 1960s and 70s.

Maribyrnong River Railway Bridge - The Maribyrnong River Railway Bridge is the only example in Victoria where a railway tunnel exits onto a substantial bridge.

When rail transport was at its peak in Victoria, an engineering solution was needed to separate goods traffic from the suburban rail system. The Maribyrnong River Railway Bridge was one of the most elaborate - and expensive - undertakings in rail construction in Victoria during the twentieth century. Over 1,700 men gained employment constructing the railway line, bridge and tunnel, earning on average 15 shillings a day.

Bunbury Street Railway Tunnel - One of only a handful of railway tunnels ever built in the State, it was the first to employ reinforced concrete as its major structural material and it was the largest - and one of the first - cut-and-fill tunnels to be constructed. The first sod was turned without ceremony in 1918 and the line completed in August 1928.

Punts & Bridges - 1839 The Crossing of the Saltwater - In 1839 the Port Phillip Patriot & Melbourne Advertiser announced, in an item headed:

'IMPORTANT', the establishment of a punt on the Saltwater River near its junction with the Yarra, for the purpose of crossing travellers, and their horses to and from Williams town, Geelong and that line of the country'.

Captain William Lonsdale - Melbourne's Lonsdale Street is named after him - had set up a small punt there, 'only large enough to carry two horses or a small cart'.

Today the site has state-wide historical significance. It marks an early transport route connecting Melbourne with its western hinterland and it marks the beginning of one of Melbourne's earliest suburbs.

Punts & Bridges - 1895 Napier Street Swing Bridge - Today we call it 'grade separation': Keeping major forms of transport apart for efficiency reasons. The Napier Street swing bridge opened in 1895 as a new river crossing for wheeled transport while still allowing ships a clear passage up river. The first of its kind in Victoria, it rotated around a central pier and last swung in the 1930s. You can still see the abutment foundations, now under heritage protection.

The bridge was designed and constructed by the engineering partnership of J. T Noble Anderson (credited with introducing the technology of reinforced concrete to Victoria) and John Monash (famous WW1 General, later knighted).

In 1958 the bridge was replaced by a fixed structure named after swimmer, footballer, Mayor and local MP, Ernie Shepherd.

Mirring-gnai-birr-nong - For thousands of years before the arrival of settlers in the 1830s, the Maribyrnong River flowed through land belonging to people of the Woi-wurrung language group. The Marin-balluk clan laid claim to the territory to the west of the river, while the Wurundjeri-willam claimed the east. A clan of Boon wurrung speakers, the Yallukit-willam, occupied territory downstream of the river's junction with the Yarra at Footscray. The river marked the boundary between clans, as well as a route for trade and travel. it was also a source of fish and eels.

The two alternative meanings of the word Maribyrnong hint at other food supplies available in the surrounding country. It is thought that it derives from an Aboriginal phrase, either Mirring-gnai-birr-nong, meaning 'I can hear a ringtail possum' or Mirring-quaff-birrong, the name of an edible yam that grew in the river valley.

1803 - Discovery Along the 'Great River' - Sent down from Sydney in the summer of 1802-03, His Majesty's colonial schooner Cumberland, carrying Lieutenant Charles Robins and Acting Surveyor-General Charles Grimes, entered Port Phillip Bay. On 20 January 1803, instructed to 'walk around' the Bay, Grimes' party took thirty-eight days for an anti-clockwise trek from Point Nepean to the Bellarine Peninsula.

At sunrise on 3 February, Lieutenant Robbins, Grimes and James Flemming (gardener and diarist) were rowed by five seamen 'up the Great River'. Between two and three miles up they came to a junction of two rivers and took the left stream, now known as the Maribyrnong River.

They made a grim assessment: 'no trees for many miles....apart from some straggling oaks' and a landscape notable for its 'stony soil'. Their report shocked the Governor and helped put back settlement at Port Phillip for more than 25 years.

Photos:

Location

Maribyrnong Street, Footscray 3011 Map