Webb Dock Observation Deck (Port Melbourne)

The Observation Deck is located 750m (one way) from the Maritime Cove Community Park playground with busy docks on one side and the bay on the other. The walk is part of the Webb Trail.

You will pass a number of fishing jetties with seats before using a ramp which rises up to a viewing platform with lovely views across the bay and Melbourne CBD skyline. The Webb Trail continues around the headland. The observation deck has a surprising accidental feature - the wind blowing through the corten slats creates sound.

For over twenty years the reclaimed land at Webb Dock has been settling and it is now time to be a container terminal capable of handling over 1 million containers a year. The massive Automated Stacking Cranes which unload and stack the containers dwarf everything in the area.

We saw some black swans and a cormorant drying its wings. You might be lucky enough to catch sight of a Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster), which is also known as the Rabe or Water-Rat, and is an Australian Native mammal first described in 1804. The use of the indigenous name Rakali was introduced to foster a positive public attitude by Environment Australia. The Gunwinggu (Kunwinjku) people of western Arnhem Land call this animal Yirrku. Numbers of this now protected species were under threat from hunting for their fur until 1938.

This species lives in burrows on the banks of rivers, lakes and estuaries, and is often seen swimming freely in waterways at dawn and dusk, feeding on aquatic insects, fish, crustaceans, mussels, snails, frogs, birds eggs, and occasionally water birds. They have partially webbed hind legs, waterproof fur, a flattened head, a long blunt nose, many whiskers and small ears and eyes. They can be easily identified from other Rats by their thick, black to brown fur with an orange to white belly, and dark tail with a prominent white tip.

Webb Dock Observation Deck (Port Melbourne)

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