The waters of the Yarra became a diversion from the gloom of the depression.
DEPRESSION
The boom of the eighties was over. Banks had closed leaving Melbourne in a state of depression. Farmers along the fertile river country could no longer find a ready sale for their produce. They had enjoyed rich crops fed by water from the Yarra but now they had to look for other ways to earn a living. Some stripped bark from black wattles selling it to tanneries while others cut timber from the spreading red gums that grew along the river banks for wheelwrights to make parts for wagon wheels.Charles Smith remembered the depression days at Templestowe. His parents James and Elizabeth Smith ran a dairy farm on the rich river flats but during the depression years they needed to earn an extra income from cutting and selling timber from the large river red gums. James and his eldest son felled the trees cut and split the timber into the eight foot lengths required by coach builders while his wife Elizabeth and the eldest girl milked the cows, separated the milk, and churned the cream to make butter, leaving the other six children in the kitchen to look after and entertain themselves.
James and his son Robert used to leave home early in the morning with a load of timber. In the evening, when it became time for them to return home, Elizabeth and the children listened for their father. On a fine night the crack of the whip could be heard half a mile away. If it was wet she would worry, for the muddy roads were shocking, Eventually she would hear a sound, “What’s that?” she would say. “Yes I think it is Dad’s whip.” Then they would hear the team coming in the gate and driving past the kitchen door. When James came into the kitchen he would stand there asking about the children, on wet days water ran off his raincoat and poured out of his boots onto the floor. (Source: Charles Smith manuscript, Doncaster-Templestowe Historical)
Many men looked for work in gold mining areas such as Warrandyte, for during the depression the government encouraged employment in gold mining. The price of gold was fixed so when other prices dropped gold mining became more profitable. The State built a battery on the Yarra upstream from the bridge at Warrandyte. Here a reef blocked off most of the river leaving a fast channel on the side of the river. This stream turned a large water wheel that drove the battery
The State Crusher gave a boost to mineing at Warrandyte. New mines were opened, several shafts were sunk and a tunnel was dug. The Caledonia mine was the most important for it gave employment for many men till the mine closed in 1907. (Source: Department of Mines Reports 1896 to 1898.)
In the past the pollution and smell from the river had marred enjoyment of water sports, but in 1891, in a legislative highlight on the river, the Board of Works assumed responsibility for sewerage in the Metropolitan area.
Teams of men with picks cut down Batman’s hill while others with chovels filled hoppers on rail lines to remove the earth. Level rail yards and railway lines then took the place. (Source: Illustrated Australian News. April 1892)
Sewage from the south eastern suburbs had to cross the Yarra. The first main went underneath in a tunnel four metres below the river. During construction water from the river broke through and six men were drowned. In 1987 the Richmond main went under the river next to the railway line. This time the builders pumped compressed air into the tunnel to hold back water from seeping in, but in an unforeseen accident five men were gassed. The Board was unwilling to risk another tunnel, so when the Melbourne main was to cross the river near the Spencer Street Ferry, they dug a trench in the bed of the river then lowered a long pipe into the trench. Unfortunately the pipe broke and had to be joined again under the water. At the opening of the main, the official guests travelled down the river in a boat that followed the route of the sewerage as it flowed first to the pumping station at Spotswood and then down to the sewerage farm at Werribee. (Source: Walter Arnold, Retired Manager Spotswood Pumping Station)
During the next ten years, pollution in the river was reduced, paving the way for a renewal of the popularity and enjoyment of water sports and boating on the Yarra. (Source: Dr. Colin Leigh, Yarra Conference 1991) Boats and boating have always been an attraction on the river and an inexpensive river picnic attracted people when money was scarce As early as the 1850’s people went for picnics on the river banks at Hawthorn and Yarra Bend. They would play games on the banks or swim in the water and if a boat was available they rowed on the river. Often householders along the Yarra, with a staging on the river, were asked for hot water to make tea. Some started providing afternoon teas and later established tea gardens. In 1889 Peardon built the well-known Hawthorn Tea Gardens on the site of the present Leonda Restaurant. Along the Yarra at Hawthorn there were as many as five places where holiday makers could call in for tea and refreshments - Hill’s, Pearsons, Robert’s, the Glen, originally Henley, and the Hawthorn Tea Gardens. In the early years of the new century an outing up the river by steam boat or by tram to the Hawthorn and Glen Tea Gardens became popular way to spend a Saturday or Sunday.
Along this stretch of the Yarra many owners of boat sheds also built dinghy and Thames river boats both for sale or hire. As well as Burn’s boat shed, there was McCauley’s at the foot of Molesworth Street and at Fairfield, Willow Dell and Rudder Grange and west of Alphington Street there was Marriott’s and Chipperfield had a two story house on the Yarra at Kilby Road with a boat shed underneath and a floating tea room on river.
Attached to most boat sheds were tea rooms. One of the first in this section of the Yarra was at Rudder Grange. Edmund Cooke, and his wife Ellie came from England in the 1880’s. They found an attractive block of land, to start a flower farm, between the present Alphington and Yarraford Streets with the asset of a frontage on the Yarra to supply water for the plants. Cooke called his land Rudder Grange after his home in England.
Often people rowing along the river stopped at his landing stage and asked for hot water to make tea. This gave Cooke the idea of selling teas and refreshments, so about 1900 he opened a tea garden on the river bank serving Devonshire teas. Rudder Grange soon became well known and two steam launches plied along the river from Studley Park bringing people for picnics, swimming, boating and enjoying afternoon teas.
Edmund Cooke altered Rudder Grange over the years, he kept adding secondhand sections to his house. He built lattice arbours in his garden on the river bank employing up to eight girls to serve in the tea gardens. Rudder Grange became popular, especially for Venetian nights with Gipsy Teas and fireworks on moonlight evenings.
One summer day in 1910, Edmund Cooke was approached by four young actors. They were looking for a cool place to camp on the river during the hot summer days. Cooke offered them a corner of his orchard to pitch a tent under tall gum trees. These adventurous actors were from the Theatre Royal where they were part of the Oscar Ashe - Lily Brayton theatre company. Their landlord, whom they called Captain Cooke, and his wife Ellie gave the group fresh food, encouragement and help with the camp. For two months they lived, slept, swam and cooked meals. They lazed away the days till it was time to go to the theatre. After the show the four men walked to Princes Bridge station where it was only a twenty minute trip by steam train to Fairfield Park Station. Reaching their camp, the four quickly changed out of their hot clothes and with a lot of hilarity dived into the river for a nightly swim across to the other side and back before preparing a warm meal. (Source: Table Talk, 30 June 1910 p14)
In 1908 John St.Clair had seen the growth of interest in the river as a recreation area and constructed a tea rooms and a boat shed at Fairfield. He built good a good quality solid building, the dining rooms had attractive fittings with stained glass windows and wide verandahs overlooking a bend of the Yarra.
Farther up the river the Yarra valley attracted visitors for longer holidays. On the timbered slopes of the hills at Wurburton people stayed at guest houses. From among the tall gum trees the visitors could look down to the valley where the river ran alongside the road. In the morning mist hung in the valley forming a mystic lake and at evening smoke from houses rose up in columns among the trees.
At Warrandyte the Yarra flowed between hills and rippled over rocks. In the autumn mists bathed the river in a sea of soft white and in the spring golden wattle highlighted the the gum trees on the banks of the river. The area was a natural attraction for artists. At the beginning of the century Clara Southern, came to live an the hills above the river, soon she was followed by Joe Sweetman. By 1914 almost a colony of painter and potters were living at Warrandyte. There were, Arthur Merric Boyd, Penleigh Boyd, who built “The Robbins”, Harold Herbert, Louis McCubbin and Frank Crozier.
Martin Boyd wrote that he was visiting the “Latin Quarter of the Bush.”
Water from the Plenty River had been supplying the people of Melbourne. Water flowed through the taps in large quantities for people used water to drink, bathe, to grow plants vegetables and for a multitude of industrial uses. Melbourne people used over forty gallons of water each day and soon there would be a shortage so other tributaries of the Yarra were being dammed to augment the supply. Then 1905 the Water Act vested in the Crown the right to use the flow and to control the water in the Yarra. A pipeline diversion from Coranderrk Creek was added to the Maroondah scheme and in 1910 the Board let out the first contract for a weir on the O’Shannassy River and 79 kilometres of aqueduct. (Source: Jim Viggers, Former manager and Water Supply Headworks and Distribution for Board of Works)
At Dight’s falls the flour mill had gone but the dam remained holding a pool behind it. The Public Works Department in 1890 built a pumping station below the dam, drawing water from this pool, to pipe water for the Botanic Gardens, Albert Park Lake and also for the hydraulic power station at Melbourne. 23 The dam also kept a useful depth of water in the river but in 1949 the rocky dam broke away draining the pool and lowering the level of the river. One man boasted that he had walked along the bed of the river from Chandler Highway to Fairfield. The Australian Paper Mills required a plentiful supply of water to cool its boilers. To give a greater depth at the paper mills, the Board of Works constructed a two foot concrete wall on the same spot. 24
The stretch of river between Dights Falls and Burke Road became a popular place of recreation during the first forty years of this century reaching its peak during the post war years of the 1920’s and 30’s. These were the days of simple pleasures, people swam in swimming holes at sandbanks, picnicked on the river bank, rowed boats, paddled canoes, or just enjoyed Devonshire tea at the boat sheds. They came on foot or by tram, a few came by car, but the real way to enjoy the water was to travel on a steam boat. Harding’s Ferries ran a steam boat service from Princes Bridge to Dights Falls. From here the passengers walked to John Bern’s boat shed where another boat took them to Rudder Grange, the Fairfield tea gardens or the Willow Bank Cafe at Alphington . The boat left Melbourne in the morning at 10 am and returned at 4 pm. (Source: Aurther Howard)
The government planned a railway line (The Outer Circle) with the object of opening up land east of Melbourne and also to allow goods traffic to by-pass the city railyards. The Outercircle track left the Gippsland line at Oakleigh and ran to Fairfield Park station. The northern section of the Outer Circle line crossed the Yarra on an iron bridge at Fairfield. After a few years rail traffic on the north section of the line ceased and the iron bridge remained unused. (Source: L Harrigan - Victorian Railways to 62)
During Easter Manoeuvres in 1910 Army engineers of No 3 Field Company built a bridge as a training exercises. It crossed the Yarra at the Pontville Homestead close to Mullum Creek. The bridge was 200 feet long and only wide enough to take infantry. The army left the bridge there but it was not use and later Sam McAuley, who worked at Pontville chopped down the bridge because he said that rabbits were coming across it from Eltham. (Source: Brien Mullens, Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society)
The floods in the 1880’s decided the Public Works Department to plan flood mitigation measures. Upstream from Princes Bridge the river was narrow in places and at the Botanical Gardens swung in an S-bend. To give a better flow of water the Department instructed their chief engineer, Carlo Catani, to widen the Yarra from Princes Bridge to Cremorne Gardens. Catani, who later achieved a high reputation as an engineer, had come from Florence where he was a civil engineer. He was a man of vision and imagination. When he looked over an area he did not see problems, he saw possibilities. At the Yarra Catani visualised a far greater scheme than merely widening the river, so he came back to his superiors and with his charm and courtesy, persuaded them to enlarge their ideas for the river and the surroundings.
The Yarra at the Botanic Gardens was narrow and flowed in an ‘S` bend. The bend swept down through the north end of the gardens. Now part of the Botanic Gardens Lake is actually the original course of the old river. At Anderson Street the river curved to the north flowing under the old iron Botanic footbridge. When the river was straightened the old bridge would then be sitting on the bank. The Public Works Department planned a new bridge and awarded the contract for its design and construction to the engineering firm of Monash and Anderson.
John Monash became one of Melbourne’s great men as a scholar, engineer and soldier. In 1865 he was born in humble circumstances in a terrace house in Dudley Street West Melbourne. After moving to the country for a few his mother brought him back to Melbourne where he was sent to Scotch College. He became Dux of the School and at the age of sixteen won a scholarship to Melbourne University but lack of money forced him to suspend his civil engineering course to earn a living.
Monash obtained work with David Munro and Co. who employed him on the construction of Princes Bridge where he was given charge of the whole of the bridge earth works. The firm also employed him on other works. The following year at the age of twentytwo he was put in charge of the construction of the Outer Circle Railway and during this time completed his Batchelor of Civil Engineering degree and later went on to receive his Masters Degree. With these qualifications John Monash entered practice as a consulting engineer and formed a partnership with Anderson. (Source: Vernon R. Northwood, S.E.C.Journal, December 1950)
In 1899 work commenced on the straightening of the Yarra Teams of horses with scoops dug out a new course, cutting down into the bed rock. Then the new bridge was built, this time a road bridge. It was constructed across this dry land. John Monash was an advocate for the use of reinforced concrete. The construction of this bridge was new on the Yarra, it was described as a “Monier Arch Bridge”. Monash designed three one hundred foot spans, each span being a hollow reinforced concrete shell filled with earth. An architect, collaborated with the design of Anderson Street Bridge, producing the most beautiful bridge on the Yarra. During Melbourne’s centenary celebrations in 1935 the City Council were to rename it “Morrel Bridge”, after the Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Later the National Trust classified the bridge at Anderson Street.
Catani not only widened and straightened the Yarra but designed Alexandra Avenue and the Alexandra Gardens on the river banks. J.W.Taverner, Commissioner of Public Works, suggested an avenue, along the lines of Rotten Row in London, on the south bank of the river. Catani saw great possibilities and designed a wide boulevard with a tan track for horse riding, and a bicycle and pedestrian path from Anderson Street to St.Kilda Road. The area free of commercial traffic and with lawns planted with elms, oaks and poplars became a delightful area.
Catani continued his work on the river bank. This short bearded man dressed in serge worked enthusiastically bending over his plans, his spectacles teetering on the end of his nose. Near Princes Bridge the south bank was a swamp, a notorious area where brick makers had worked and lived. This close knit brotherhood of brickmakers became social pariahs known for their drinking and unsavoury activities. Catani converted the untidy feculent land to form the Alexandra Gardens with its green lawns, verdant of scrubs and trees. The plans for the river bank removed Branders ferry and its tea rooms. A favourite place for afternoon tea last century. In its place “The Palms”, now called The Dorchester, nestled among the palm trees of the new gardens.
Carlo Catani, an Italian, had sailed for New Zealand in 1976 but not finding work, decided to come to Australia. The council employed him as a draughtsman but soon realisd his ability and gave him the opportunity to plan and carry out his own construction projects. The last work that he undertook was the landscaping of the gardens and esplanade at St. Kilda. Carlo Catani had become a notable Victorian engineer. At St.Kilda Esplanade a bronze bust was erected in an alcove of the Catani MemorialTower.
The bends were gone from the Yarra and along the mile course from above Anderson Street Bridge to the Henley staging,, three boats could now race alongside each other, while spectators could see the races without the obstruction of trees.
On Saturday 21st. March 1904 the first “Henley on the Yarra” took place. The promoters had the dream that at Melbourne, Henley would become as great an event as Henley was on the Thames and saw it as equalling the Melbourne Cup as a Melbourne festival. (Source: The Herald, 21 Mar 1904)
Crowds lined the Parapet on Princes Bridge gazing down on the river where just below the bridge a large space on the bank as a reserve for spectators. In front of there houseboats were moored, gaily decorated structures, copies of the floating summer houses that were a feature of the Thames. One of these was reserved for the Governor-General (Lord Northcote) and his party of Melbourne’s celebrities. The Argus reported that: “Flags were everywhere, seen from below the bridge was black with people; --- crowds seated comfortably on the sloping banks, or perambulating the walks behind, stretched as far as the eye could see. Both as a social function and a regatta the first effort of the committee must be deemed as a success.” (Source: The Argus, 23 Mar 1904)
The second Henley took place in October the same year. This time decorated house boats added to the gaiety of the festival. Five years later decorated rowing boats and (Canada Canoes) took part.
At this time the argument about amateurism, that had continued right through the previous century, was finally settles. Some annomalies had existed; why should a man who worked with his hands be classes as a professional in his sport, some even claimed that members of a crew who merely competed against a professional crew where no longer amateurs but amateurs were able to accept cash prizes.
In 1905 the V.R.A. accepted a definition of amateur:
- Anyone who has not competed in a rowing, or a sculling race, for a stake, or entrance fee.
- Anyone who has not since 31 December 1896 accepted directly or indirectly an award in money, as a competitor in any branch of sport.
- Anybody who has not been employed in or about boats for money or wages.
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