During the 1870’s and 80’s Melbourne became a wealthy growing town. Gold mining was feeding the economy and the economy was producing wealth. This growth brought about changes in the use of the Yarra; increased trade generated the need for better shipping and docking facilities and more wealth gave people the opportunities for more recreation on the Yarra. In the farming lands further up the river fruit growing was taking over the vegetable and berry farms and as land was cleared timber cutters moved to the more remote hills at Warburton.
The Government of Victoria passed two legislative milestones in the life of the Yarra. In 1877, the Melbourne Harbour Trust was formed and in 1881 the frontages along the Yarra and its tributaries were reserved for the crown. (Source: Dr. Colin Leigh, 1991, Yarra River Conference, Board of Workes, Session 3) The reservation on the Yarra was 1.5 chains (30 metres), on its tributaries one chain (20 metres).
In 1860 the Town Clerk, E.G.Fitzgibbon, while speaking to a Royal Commission formed to enquire into shipping accommodation of Hobsons Bay and the Yarra River, suggested that a Trust be formed to control docks and wharfs. The Government only passed the Wharfage Harbour Rate Act. After ten years, figures showed that only half the sum collected had been spent on maintenance and improvements to the wharfs.
The government formed a plan for a Harbour Trust to administer all aspects of shipping; lighthouses, harbours and docks with the responsibility to investigate wrecks, disasters and charges of maritime misconduct. However the ship owners believed that a harbour trust should be separate from marine functions. Then at the end of 1876, Parliament passed the Harbour Trust Bill that became law on 1 February the next year. Fifteen Commissioners were to administer the Trust: shipowners and merchants were to elect three each, the Governor-in-Council three, the City of Melbourne two, Williamstown Emerald Hill, Sandridge and Footscray one each. James Lorimer, the head of a firm of shipping agents, nominated by the Governor, became the first Chairman of the Trust.
The Melbourne Habour Trust was born into the centre of the political argument between Free Traders and protectionists. In the late 1860s the Question of “protection” had became a hot political issue. After the first gold rushes had ended unemployed gold miners returned to the city looking for work. To increase employment, the radical Graham Berry supported by David Syme of the `Age’ Newspaper, had set out his arguments in favour of a high import duty. He said it would provide a legitimate opening for capital, give employment of labour, develop the resources of Victoria and create general contentment consequent on general prosperity. (Source: G.M.H. Clark, Select Documents in Australian History 1851 - 1900, p261-62) Locally manufactured goods were given the protection of a high duty, often 30 or 40 percent. The policy was proved to be successful for in the ten years from 1864 the number of workers in Victorian factories grew from 7000 to 28000. On the other side were the “free traders”; farmers, pastoralists and shipping firms and those who did not have to compete with imported goods. Why should they have to pay higher prices for Australian made goods when they could be imported for less.
The Harbour Trust Commissioners, having the aim to improve shipping, were in the majority “Free traders”. The unfortunate result was that “protectionists” took every opportunity to criticize and attack the Trust.
A letter to the paper in 1880 condemned the Trust as inefficient and wasting public money. This criticism was answered by the achievements of the Trust. The Melbourne Harbour Trust had made more river and port improvements than in the previous ten years and all financed by its own fees and dues without cost to the people. It had built 8,450 feet of wharfage, repaired two miles of roadway, raised 48,000 cubic yards of silt from the river bed, deepened the river by one and a half feet from the bay to the Falls, cleared rocks that had been dangerous to navigation and purchased 80,000 pounds worth of dredging equipment. (Source: Daily Telegraph 1880, 9 January)
In 1877 the Harbour Trust began to widen the Yarra to a width of 300 feet and to construct wharfs and access roads on the south bank. (Source: Arther Woodlea and Bob Botterell, Duke’s and Orr’s Dry Dock, p39) But here a dry dock protruded into the river below Clarendon Street. Captains Sinnott and Hughes had obtained a seven year lease of the land and in 1868 opened the first dry dock on the Yarra. They had dug the dock on a spit of land formed in the 1840s when silt settled against the slipway of a ship building works. They built the dock 250 feet long and 55 feet wide. and could take ships up to 1000 tons. A twenty inch centrifugal pump, built for them by Robinson Brothers, had the ability to empty the dock in two and a half hours.. The steam ship Southern Cross was the first ship to enter the dock. (Source: The Age, 9 Nov 1868)
Four years later when Wright Orr and Co. purchased the dock the Commissioner of Crown Lands promised them a renewal of the lease. This was on land taken over by the Harbour Trust and the lease for the dock had not been renewed, so when the dock owners were asked to move they secured land further back and excavated a new dock away from the area needed for river widening. When this was complete they applied to the Harbour Trust to have the trust’s dredges open the entrance to the new dock. This was approved by the works committee, but Commissioner Reid moved a postponement of the work. It was an unfortunate action as Reid was the owner of a dry dock at Williamstow and Wright, Orr and Company saw it as a competitor using his position to gain an advantage. (Source: Port of Melbourne) The Minister of Land then stepped in and ordered the dredge ‘Alligator`, to clear the opening. The Trust engineers made the mistake of being too hasty in sending workers onto the land to prepare for clearing the site for the old dock was still in use. (Source: Port of Melbourne) The dock owners were upset and their workers forcibly sent the Harbour Trust men off the site.
The `Age’, a strong advocate of “protection” wrote, “The dispute yesterday culminated in a remarkable and disgraceful scene. It was caused by a determination on the employees of the Harbour Trust to take forcible possession of the dock, whilst employees of Messrs Wright and Orr as strenuously opposed the attacking party.” (Source: The Age, 2 Oct 1879) The dock owners asked for police protection and an inspector, a sergeant and four constables were sent to prevent any physical violence.
The dispute deteriorated when the Trust employed divers to cut away the dock fittings under water. Wright and Orr also brought in divers. The action was farcical for the divers were all friends. As soon as the Trust divers attached a chain to the timber the other divers were permitted to undo it. If a dock diver tightened any piece of work he stood aside to let the other loosen it. (Source: The Argus, 15 Nov 1878)
In November the dock owners attempted to make the Harbour Trust liable for the unfulfilled promise of the Crown Lands Department to renew their lease to the land. A liability which the Commissioners were not prepared to grant. (Source: The Argus, 28 Nov 1878) By the end of November the Harbour Trust men had blocked the dock and all work was stopped. The `Argus’ reported that, “The men belonging to the belligerent parties amused themselves by watching each other all day, while the three policemen, who appear to be permanently stationed on the ground, were hard at work watching both parties.”
During a debate on the dock dispute in the Assembly, Mr Berry intimated that the Government would at once consider whether they would interfere in the matter. The Chief Secretary said that if the Trust could not act in a legal and proper manner it would be the decision of the government to deal with the question of the Trusts existence. (Source: The Argus, 28 Nov 1878) In December the Argus reported that a mutual friend had begun negotiations between both parties. The next year there was a change of government and the affair was settled.
Ships had difficulty navigating the winding river from the Port Phillip Bay to the wharfs at Melbourne. The channel was shallow at places, only admitting ships drawing less than thirteen feet of water. In the 1850s James Blackburn had suggested cutting a canal from the Yarra at the docks to the bay at Sandridge (Port Melbourne) a distance of less than a mile. Then in the 1870s, with the growth of trade and the many vessels visiting Melbourne, ship owners and merchants were becoming concerned with the unsatisfactory harbour situation. Large vessels could not come up the Yarra and those that could, took up to six hours to negotiate the river. The idea of a canal was again being considered. The Harbour Trust decided to invite an engineer experienced in harbour design to come to Melbourne and plan improvements to our docks. They selected Sir John Coode a distinguished harbour engineer to visit Melbourne and report on improvements to the port. (Source: Australian Encyclopaedia)
Sir John studied the area with the help of a team of experts, surveyors, engineers and the use of a boring plant. (Source: Port of Melbourne) In April the following year his report was presented and accepted.(Source: The Age, 25 Apr 1879) He found that with a canal from the wharfs direct to the bay there would be a problem keeping a depth of water for navigation and there would not be a sufficient flow of water to scour the channel at the entrance to the cut also during a flood the speed of the current would cause problems with navigation. He would prefer to improve the present course, reducing it from seven and a quarter to six miles distance.
The report stated: Keep the existing track of the river until arriving at Spottswood Point; after cutting away the salient angle at this place it would continue nearly in the present course then cross the flats on the southern side of Fishermans Bend, again entering the Yarra at about a mile below the gas works; thence up to the Falls, the existing Yarra course would be widened to form regular and uniform curves. The depth of the channel should be not less than twenty feet at low water or twentytwo feet at high water. Could be deepened to 25 to 27 feet and 260 feet wide and upper part 300 feet. For prevention of floods, rocks above Princes Bridge and at the Falls to be removed. West Melbourne Swamp to be used for docks. A railway from docks to Spencer Street Station and a horse tram to Flinders Street. Sir John Coode estimated it would take ten years for the work. (Source:The Age, 25 Apr 1879)
The Harbour Trust was unable to start construction of the canal as the land on Fishermans Bend, needed for the canal, was not ceded to the it and the “protectionist” Berry Government refused to give the commissioners formal occupancy.(Source:Daily Telegraph, 9 Jan 1880) When the Berry government was defeated the “free trade” Service government came into power and vested the area to the trust.
The Hamburg Trust accepted the tender of M. Gardiner and Co, to build the canal at a price of 68,059 pounds. A steam shovel, (called a steam navvy) running on rail tracks, dug out the earth tipping it into rail trucks. The waste was used to build up the banks and fill swamp land on Fishermans Bend. As the ground was lowered the rails were relayed on the lower level. Soon a deep ditch spread in a gentle curve for a mile across the flat land of Fishermans Bend. The cut was 300 feet wide and twentytwo feet deep with sloping sides. On the eleventh of September 1887 the Trust Chairman, Mr. O’Grady helped the governor raise the sluices to let water pour into the large ditch, but it took six days to fill. Then the embankment at each end had to be dug and dredged away. In July 1887 ships were sailing through Coode Canal. (Source: Jubilee History of the Melbourne Harbour Trust p??)
As well as his work on the Yarra, Sir John provided reports and planned works in Portland, Geelong, Queensland and West Australia. (Source: Astralian Dictionary of Biography Vol3 p447) Sir John Coode was considered the most distinguished harbour engineer in the 19th century. He had carried out harbour works in many countries and been a member of the International Commission for the Suez Canal. On returning from Melbourne he was elected President of the Institute of Civil Engineers. During the next years the Melbourne Harbour Trust carried out many of the works on the Yarra that had been recommended by Sir John Coode. dredge vivit
A muddy swamp covered a large area of land at West Melbourne; it was here that Sir John Coode had recommended that a large dock be constructed and in 1883 the Harbour Trust prepared to construct Victoria Dock on the site.
The Trust engineer, John Brady, who was planning the work, advised the Trust that the walls of the dock, would be better built of timber than concrete as Coode had recommended. Concrete would be expensive and difficult to construct. By using timber the Trust could start the work straight away but if concrete were to be used would have to wait for more finance. Coode not being aware of the durability of Australian timber expected that timber walls would only last for twenty years. Australian Timber could be expected to have a life of over fifty years. (Source: Jubilee History of the Melbourne Harbour Trust. p76)
In 1889, the swamp was drained and the contractors started to dig out the dry land. They removed over three million cubic yards of earth and used it to fill low land alongside the dock and part of the old course of the Yarra. Soon they had dug a hole in the ground twenty feet deep covering nearly one hundred acres. The hole was surrounded by timber walls with timber decking and on the south, wharf sheds had been built. (Source: Melbourne Harbour Trust, Plan of River Yarra and Victoria Dock) In March 1992 the Governor, the Earl of Hopetoun, turned on the sluices to fill the dock, because of the large area it also took six days to fill. Completion of Victoria Dock was an achievement for the Harbour Trust. It had cost 672,000 pounds and provided an extra 9,000 feet of wharf space. Mr.B. Hoare, the historian of the Harbour Trust said about Victoria Dock: “There in the centre of what had been an all but impassable swamp, was a noble mass of water, ready for the reception of any species of vessel.”
During the 1850s and 60s the Yarra from Princes Bridge to the Botanic Bridge became an aquatic playground for Melbourne. It was within a short walk from the town where a network of horse buses brought people from the suburbs. They came to the river to enjoy activities such as, boating, rowing, afternoon tea in the tea gardens or just relaxing under the gum trees on the banks of the river.
On Sundays visitors relaxing after their weeks work, walked along the river bank and crowded the miniature zoo alongside the picturesque refreshment rooms at Branders Ferry. Many sat at small tables under the shade of gum trees with a glass of wine or cup of coffee while they watched activities on the river. On a fine sunny day the water flowed under a smooth surface that reflected the trees on the far bank, then as a boat passed the reflections broke up in shattered patterns to settle back again.
At the weekend the Yarra was always active, outrigger racing boats rowed by, their crews swinging in a steady rhythm, or a Thames river boat, the orsman showing his skill, while his lady relaxed against cushions in the stern, holding a parasol to protect her from the sun, or boat loads of happy young people, the men energetically rowing while the ladies in colourful costumes laughed happily as they enjoyed the day. (Source: Australian Sketcher 17 Jan 1883)
The Australian Sktcher in October 1874 the captions for a page of illustrations described sections of the river near Botanic Bridge. It would be difficult to fine a prettier sight than at the Botanic Bridge on regatta day and the remarkable beauty of the spot (Baths Corner0 between the bridges. Here scrowds of runners go swaying and endaevouring to to reach the bridge to see the the winners.
In these decades, with the formation of the Victorian Rowing Association, rowing clubs and boat races were firmly established. The Association drew up a set of regulations and organised a regatta; races were to be for amateurs only, watermen, boat builders and owners of boat sheds were not accepted. Professional watermen ran their own rowing events. Twenty rowing clubs joined the Association. from Melbourne, Albert Park, Geelong, Richmond, Williamstown and Ballarat.
The new organisation decided to hold races on the Lower Yarra. The course was one and a half miles from near the Stoney Creek to a reserve at the sugar works. After the first half mile the course ran along the old course of the Yarra. In later years the Yarra flowed through Coode Canal then this stretch of river became Maribynong River. With eight oar races, the course was two miles, starting further down stream. Club races were also held at Ballarat and Albert Park Lake. (Source: The Victorian Rowing Register 1878. M.S. Glyn) The first Annual Regatta in April 1871 attracted great interest. The Governor. the Mayor and members of Parliament attended, and the regatta became a gala event with thousands of spectators flocking to the Yarra bank. (Source: Alan N. Jacobsen - Australia in World Rowing”)
Another rowing club was formed the nexr year. A group of business firms in Melbourne: Alston and Brown, Robertson and Moffat, Buckley and Nunn, Mowbray, Rowan and Hicks decided to close business at 2p.m. on Saturday afternoons,. To enjoy their free afternoon, members of these firms formed a rowing Club. They called called it the Early Closing Association Rowing Club, then the next year changed the name to Yarra Yarra Club. At first they used Edwards Boat Shed facilities and boats. (Source: M.S. Glyn - The Victorian Rowing Register 1878)
On Sundays visitors relaxing after their weeks work, walked along the river bank and crowded the miniature zoo alongside the picturesque refreshment rooms at Branders Ferry. Many sat at small tables under the shade of gum trees with a glass of wine or cup of coffee while they watched activities on the river. On a fine sunny day the water flowed under a smooth surface that reflected the trees on the far bank, then as a boat passed the reflections broke up in shattered patterns to settle back again.
At the weekend the Yarra was always active, outrigger racing boats rowed by, their crews swinging in a steady rhythm, or a Thames river boat, the orsman showing his skill, while his lady relaxed against cushions in the stern, holding a parasol to protect her from the sun, or boat loads of happy young people, the men energetically rowing while the ladies in colourful costumes laughed happily as they enjoyed the day. (Source: Australian Sketcher 17 Jan 1883)
The Australian Sktcher in October 1874 the captions for a page of illustrations described sections of the river near Botanic Bridge. It would be difficult to fine a prettier sight than at the Botanic Bridge on regatta day and the remarkable beauty of the spot (Baths Corner0 between the bridges. Here scrowds of runners go swaying and endaevouring to to reach the bridge to see the the winners.
In these decades, with the formation of the Victorian Rowing Association, rowing clubs and boat races were firmly established. The Association drew up a set of regulations and organised a regatta; races were to be for amateurs only, watermen, boat builders and owners of boat sheds were not accepted. Professional watermen ran their own rowing events. Twenty rowing clubs joined the Association. from Melbourne, Albert Park, Geelong, Richmond, Williamstown and Ballarat.
The new organisation decided to hold races on the Lower Yarra. The course was one and a half miles from near the Stoney Creek to a reserve at the sugar works. After the first half mile the course ran along the old course of the Yarra. In later years the Yarra flowed through Coode Canal then this stretch of river became Maribynong River. With eight oar races, the course was two miles, starting further down stream. Club races were also held at Ballarat and Albert Park Lake. (Source: The Victorian Rowing Register 1878. M.S. Glyn) The first Annual Regatta in April 1871 attracted great interest. The Governor. the Mayor and members of Parliament attended, and the regatta became a gala event with thousands of spectators flocking to the Yarra bank. (Source: Alan N. Jacobsen - Australia in World Rowing”)
Another rowing club was formed the nexr year. A group of business firms in Melbourne: Alston and Brown, Robertson and Moffat, Buckley and Nunn, Mowbray, Rowan and Hicks decided to close business at 2p.m. on Saturday afternoons,. To enjoy their free afternoon, members of these firms formed a rowing Club. They called called it the Early Closing Association Rowing Club, then the next year changed the name to Yarra Yarra Club. At first they used Edwards Boat Shed facilities and boats. (Source: M.S. Glyn - The Victorian Rowing Register 1878)
The Banks Rowing Club had hired boats from Edwards and Greenlands boat sheds that were below Princes Bridge on the south Bank, but found the arrangements were often unsatisfactory, so purchased their own boats and in 1889 built their own shed at a cost of 300 pounds. Mr. Henry Giles Turner was the driving force behind the club for many years, having initiated the club. In 1876 Turner went for a trip to England, it was a business trip but he was more interested in ordering an eight oared boat for the Banks Rowing Club. Turner couldn’t resist visiting the boat builders whenever possible to watch the construction of his boat. It cost seventy four pounds but bringing it to Australia added another twenty eight pounds to the price. Now the club were able to experience the thrill of rowing in an eight oared boat. They could feel the boat lift as the oars caught the water and the swing as the boat surged ahead then the rhythm as it sank back ready to lift again while they sped through the water.
Turner had became President in 1871, a positions he was to hold till his death in 1920. Turner was born in London in 1831 and arrived in Melbourne at the age of 23. He joined the Bank of Australasia where he became Melbourne accountant, later leaving to take up the position as General Manager of the Commercial Bank of Australia. H. G. Turner was elected President of the Victorian Rowing Association, and was distinguished as a banker, historian and litterateur. (Source: Bank of New South Wales magazine)
In 1870 rowing became an interstate affair when Melbourne University raced Sydney University on the Yarra. Melbourne won the race. Three years later crews from Melbourne and Sydney clubs rowed an inter colonial race of four miles on the Lower Yarra. The race started from the junction of Stony Creek and finished opposite the gas works. Men in moored skiffs held the stern of the boats as they waited while the starter prepared the crews. He fired his pistol and the oars swung into the water wrenching the boats foreward. The crews rapidly pulled away leaving the steamers loaded with spectators well behind and soon passed the umpire’s steam boat as it waited on the side of the river. The umpire’s boat pulled out to follow but ran onto a mud bank where it remained firmly stuck and out of sight of the boats for the rest of the race. The crews raced stroke for stroke rowing at 41 strokes to the minute. They raced on, the thump of the oars in the rowlocks and the splash of the blades in the water mixing with the shouts of spectators on the river bank.
The Sydney crew having won the draw chose the south lane giving them the shorter distance as the river curved around fishermans bend. A definite advantage till later in the race the Melbourne boat reached a section of slack water while the Sydney boat still faced the river stream. The crowds on the river banks shouted with excitement as Melbourne pulled up to the Sydney boat then moved ahead keeping they kept the lead rowing with a long steady stroke of 38, then at the winning post, Melbourne crossed the line first, one length ahead of Sydney. (Source: M. S. Glynn, The Victorian Rowing Register, 1878)
After the race a dispute started when the Sydney crew complained that the Melbourne crew were not all amateurs for the crew included manual labourers. This resulted in an argument over amateurism. Some donsidered that only gentlemen could be called amateurs
In the hills where the waters of the Yarra ran over rocks, the stream was clear and fresh but at Melbourne the pollution that had started in the 1840s, when effluent from slaughter houses flowed into the river, continued to grow worse. The Governor sent a minute to the Melbourne City Council drawing attention to the extreme inconvenience experienced at Government House caused by the stench arising from the Yarra. The council who had only jurisdiction within the limits of its own municipality, sent an official reply. Extracts from the letter show the extent of degradation of the Yarra.
“At Dight’s Falls the river may be considered tolerably pure, immediatly below the falls the gross pollution of the stream commences with the infall of the Merri Creek which contains sewerage from the Pentridge Prison as well as the ordinary drainage from the townships of Coburg, and East Brunswick, and the night soil of the City of Collingwood, the Collingwood Abattoir, then the Reilly Street drain, several wool washing establishments, a couple of tanneries, and the drainage from the whole of Collingwood and Fitzroy. From the Merri Creek to Hawthorn Bridge the surface of the river was reported to give off an offensive stench compounded by a special foulness of the putrescent odour of dead dogs held rotting in the branches of willow trees.” (Source: Sir Ninian Stephens, 1991, Yarra River Conference, Keynote Address)
People complained and talked about the evil of fouls smells from the river without result but at last the Minister of Lands was authorised to assume the role of conservator of the Yarra.
At the start of the 1880’s Melbourne had only two road crossings over the Yarra and one rail bridge. The Falls Bridge and Sandridge rail bridge had both become shaky with age In January 1886 work commenced to rebuild the rail bridge and it was completed two years later. The Victorian Railways designed the bridge and their engineer, W. Green, supervised the work that was carried out by the Contractor David Munro and Company. It cost over one 140,000 pounds. Cast-iron cylinders filled with concrete carried four steel plate girders and cross girders. The cylinders were sunk into clay and their stability was tested by loading nearly 300 tons of rails on them. (Source: National Trust Manuscript, Research into Sandridge Railway Bridge)
The solid stone Princes Bridge designed by David Lennox in 1850 would have lasted forever but there were problems. The single arch and shallow depth under the bridge held back water whenever the Yarra was in flood and there were frequent floods. During the later 1870s the city council was talking about ideas to give relief from floods and decided to widen the river, remove the falls opposite Queen Street and rebuild Princes Bridge. (Source: The Argus, 8 Sep 1886)
“At Dight’s Falls the river may be considered tolerably pure, immediatly below the falls the gross pollution of the stream commences with the infall of the Merri Creek which contains sewerage from the Pentridge Prison as well as the ordinary drainage from the townships of Coburg, and East Brunswick, and the night soil of the City of Collingwood, the Collingwood Abattoir, then the Reilly Street drain, several wool washing establishments, a couple of tanneries, and the drainage from the whole of Collingwood and Fitzroy. From the Merri Creek to Hawthorn Bridge the surface of the river was reported to give off an offensive stench compounded by a special foulness of the putrescent odour of dead dogs held rotting in the branches of willow trees.” (Source: Sir Ninian Stephens, 1991, Yarra River Conference, Keynote Address)
People complained and talked about the evil of fouls smells from the river without result but at last the Minister of Lands was authorised to assume the role of conservator of the Yarra.
At the start of the 1880’s Melbourne had only two road crossings over the Yarra and one rail bridge. The Falls Bridge and Sandridge rail bridge had both become shaky with age In January 1886 work commenced to rebuild the rail bridge and it was completed two years later. The Victorian Railways designed the bridge and their engineer, W. Green, supervised the work that was carried out by the Contractor David Munro and Company. It cost over one 140,000 pounds. Cast-iron cylinders filled with concrete carried four steel plate girders and cross girders. The cylinders were sunk into clay and their stability was tested by loading nearly 300 tons of rails on them. (Source: National Trust Manuscript, Research into Sandridge Railway Bridge)
The solid stone Princes Bridge designed by David Lennox in 1850 would have lasted forever but there were problems. The single arch and shallow depth under the bridge held back water whenever the Yarra was in flood and there were frequent floods. During the later 1870s the city council was talking about ideas to give relief from floods and decided to widen the river, remove the falls opposite Queen Street and rebuild Princes Bridge. (Source: The Argus, 8 Sep 1886)
The first question was, who pays for the bridge? The council agreed to be liable to one third of the cost and the government was to contribute one third, the balance was to be come from the municipalities on the south of the river who would benefit from it. They organised a competition for a design for the bridge, the winner to receive 900 pounds. De’Elbro and Granger won the competition and John Granger, who had drawn the plans was commissioned to supervise the construction.
The design was based on Blackfriars Bridge in London. It has a span of 400 feet rising ten feet in the centre with a roadway 63 feet wide. There are three spans each attractively decorated with the coats of arms of the municipalities, who payed for it, between each arch The bridge cost was 137,000 pounds. D.Munro and Co. won the constructed to build the new Princes Bridge. David Muntro employed John Monash (later Sir John Monash) who was later to build Anderson Street Bridge. (Source: Colin O’Connor, 1985, Spanning Two Centuries, University of Queensland Press p114)
On 7 September 1886 the Mayor of Melbourne Mr. J.C.Stewart layed the foundation Stone using a specially made silver trowel. Before construction started modification to the design had to be made. First the height of the roadway was increased to provide room for a cable tunnel, for cable trams needed to cross the bridge, also to give headroom for the railway line at Flinders Street Station.
Workshops, covering seven acres and fitted out with the best equipment available, were built to prepare sections of the bridge. Munro found that granite quarried and polished in Victoria was cheaper than imported stone. On the fourth of October, amidst great celebrations, the Mayoress of Melbourne opened the new Princers Bridge. The bridge cost 137,000 pounds. (Source: Argus, 5 Oct 1888)
The design was based on Blackfriars Bridge in London. It has a span of 400 feet rising ten feet in the centre with a roadway 63 feet wide. There are three spans each attractively decorated with the coats of arms of the municipalities, who payed for it, between each arch The bridge cost was 137,000 pounds. D.Munro and Co. won the constructed to build the new Princes Bridge. David Muntro employed John Monash (later Sir John Monash) who was later to build Anderson Street Bridge. (Source: Colin O’Connor, 1985, Spanning Two Centuries, University of Queensland Press p114)
On 7 September 1886 the Mayor of Melbourne Mr. J.C.Stewart layed the foundation Stone using a specially made silver trowel. Before construction started modification to the design had to be made. First the height of the roadway was increased to provide room for a cable tunnel, for cable trams needed to cross the bridge, also to give headroom for the railway line at Flinders Street Station.
Workshops, covering seven acres and fitted out with the best equipment available, were built to prepare sections of the bridge. Munro found that granite quarried and polished in Victoria was cheaper than imported stone. On the fourth of October, amidst great celebrations, the Mayoress of Melbourne opened the new Princers Bridge. The bridge cost 137,000 pounds. (Source: Argus, 5 Oct 1888)
After twenty five years the Falls bridge had become weak and when, the reef of rocks under it was blasted away to allow a greater flow of water, the structure became unsafe. (Source: The Age) The next year a new bridge was built alongside Queens Wharf. Five years earlier the Emerald Hill Surveyor reported that the Falls Bridge was unsafe and many references were made to its dilapidated appearance The `Age’ reported that the rail bridge was a source of uneasiness to train . travellers. There was a delay as the cost of the new bridge was to be 44,242 pounds. After many talks, the bodies who were responsible for the bridge, came to an agreement to share the cost. The Victorian Government would pay 20,000 pounds, the Harbour Trust 10,000, the Tramways Board, 2,385 and the remaining 11,857 to be shared by Melbourne and South Melbourne Councils and the Port Melbourne Borough Council. (Source: Jubilee History of the Melbourne Harbour Trust page) David Munro once again won the contract for the construction. The Yarra then had three new bridges at the city.
David Munro had built up a successful engineering business and become an important man in Melbourne. His fortunes varied from only owning the three pounds worth of clothes he was wearing to running a successful business with large land holdings and a mansion at Kooyong, then at the end of his life, living almost in penury in a small cottage.
In 1854 as a ten year old boy David Munro, with his family, came to Melbourne from Scotland. As the boys grew old enough they worked in their father’s blacksmith and contracting business. When David was twenty seven and was in partnership with his father, the firm became bankrupt. He was left with only the clothes he was wearing. David soon recovered, for two years later he married Sarah Sydenham and started his own engineering and machinery business, David Munro and Co. This was the time of the great railway expansion. He won and carried out many large railway contracts and soon became one of the largest employers of labour in the colony. Ar well as his engineering projects the firm designed, manufactured, and sold a whole range of equipment for farming, mining and engineering. Munro became a respected man and was elected president of the Chamber of Manufacturers and councillor of the National Agricultural Society.
David Munroe invested in land and built a large mansion at Kooyong but when the land boom crashed in the 90s, he had over spent with large overdrafts. David Munroe lost his company and all his money. He lived, almost a pauper, in a small cottage till his death in 1898. (Source: The Dictionary of Biography, vol. 5 p311) Two important bridges that span the Yarra, Princes and Queens Bridges, remain today as memorials to David Munroe.
Along the river more crossing places were added. At Wallen Road a bridge was built in 1881. Steel tubes sunk into the river bed held the lattice girders holding the roadway and on the side a footway was placed on a lower level.
Further up the river Victoria Street came to a full stop on the banks of the Yarra at the west and Barkers Road ended on the other bank. The residents of the affluent suburbs of Kew and Hawthorn needed a more direct route to the city but when it came to building a bridge there was a problem. Four municipalities met at the bridge; Kew, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Richmond and the four were each responsible for the design and construction of the bridge but the engineers of the four councils could not agree, each wanting their own ideas. In 1880 the councils formed committee that decided to hold a competition for a bridge design. Two University students, Frazer and Chase of the Railway’s construction branch won the competition with a simple lightweight design. It was twenty feet wide with a narrow footpath on one side. 14
The wrangling by the councils continued during its construction and before the bridge was finished two clerk of works had to be dismissed. The simplicity of the design worried the councillors who thought it unsafe but Professor Kernot of the Melbourne University, a noted authority on bridge construction, approved its design, praising its simplicity. In fact for many years the bridge was used as an example for engineering students at the Melbourne University. During the following years the bridge was widened and
Up stream, where the Yarra comes from Fairfield, a large curve in the river surrounds an area known as Yarra Bend. This beautiful expanse of level land has been used for recreation since the early days of Melbourne. People came out in horse drawn drags for picnics and in the 1870’s visiting Englishmen and some of Australia’s great men of cricket such as as Worral, Trumble and W. G. Grace played social games on a pretty cricket ground surrounded by elms and oaks. (Source: Frank Byrning, Argus, 23 Dec 1933)
The Lunatic Asylum, with its brick walls and collection of buildings, took up the ground on the eastern side of Yarra Bend. (Source: The Argus, 2 Aug 1884 There was frequent criticism of the Asylum and demands for its removal to a more suitable site, the area was considered too damp and the buildings unsuitable, but it continued to occupy the area for many years. Across the Yarra the Kew Lunatic Asylum was built in the 1870’s. Although the two institutions were close to each other they were separated by a long trip by road. To help communication between them a footbridge was built over the river. It was called the “Zig Zag Bridge” as steps on the lower Yarra Bend side zig-zaged up to the top. Stone used to build the Kew Asylum came from from a quarry in Northcote, and was taken across the bridge to save the long haul by road. The workmen winched the stone up to the footbridge where it was carried across on a trolley running on rails across the bridge. (Source: Arthur Howard)
In the 1880s John Wallace, a man who liked grandiose schemes, formed a company that planned to use the water of the Yarra to generate electricity for Melbourne. He planned to build a dam at Pound Bend in Warrandyte. The power station was to generate electricity that would be transmitted on power lines alongside the river to Preston; from there power would be distributed in Melbourne. Parliament approved the dam although it would flood the river and part of the vallley at Warrandyte up to the bridge. Work actually started but the scheme lapsed when the financial depression of the 90s ended the enthusiastic days of the land boom. (Source: Victorian Government Gazette, 7 Dec 1888)
Residents at Warrandyte, after ten years without a bridge, held meeting to ask for a new crossing. In 1875 a new timber bridge was built, a strong one this time, it cost 1419 pounds but only had one traffic lane. The bridge was needed for Warrandyte was becoming a busy place There were many mines in the hills of Warrandyte and they all relied on the Yarra for water to crush and wash the ore. In the area up stream from the town, where thirty years before Dawson had built a hut and opened a cattle station, the Yarra tribute Co. dug a tunnel for 50 yards under the river. Near there, at Black Flat, the Elliot freehold company discovered a diorite dyke rich in gold. For six years the dyke produced good returns then the company met financial trouble and the mine closed. (Source: Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society Archive)
Beyond Lilydale Gold mining had opened up the land in the hills. E.J.Buller, who had settled in the area with a hotel and store, purchased the first land at Warburton area, 20 acres, in 1871. Ten years later he rebuilt the fine Warburton Hotel and the general store at West Warburton (now Wesburn). He was a man with a sense for business, who also provided the opportunity for recreation. In the early years miners enjoyed many happy times in the large room attached to his hotel.
In 1887, The Public Works Department built a good road to Warburton but the bridge over the Yarra was not constructed until the end of the decade. Beyond there, packhorses were needed. In 1884 W.C.Kernot led a party through this country to visit the source of the Yarra. With the aid of an experienced local bushman, Mr. Robertson, the party found the place that had been visited by Hoddle thirty years before. It was a spot of rare beauty clothed with beech and fern vegetation a high plateau, from which the river and its principal tributaries descend in splendid waterfalls and rapids. On the steep slope of one peak their packhorse slipped and fell several times. Kernot named the peak “Mount Horsefall”. (Source: Doncaster-Templestowe Historical Society Archives)
During the late 1880s interest in Australian patriotism grew and with it a new attitude towards the Australian bush developed. The tall mountain gum trees came to be appreciated, not just for their timber but as beautiful trees. Visitors came to the Yarra valley to see the decorative tree ferns, the waterfalls and the botanically interesting ferns in the undergrowth. (Source: Personal communication - The late Dr. Heber Green)
Falls Creek is one of the most picturesque of the Yarra tributaries. There are six successive falls within a quarter of mile. The drop from the higher to the lower fall is about 700 feet. Beyond that there is a beautiful upland some 3000 feet above sea level heavily timbered with beech (generally known as myrtle), blachbutt and mottled gum, a variety of blue gum. All the creek beds present typical mountain scenery in lovely fern glades and dense growths of sassafras and other shrubs. (Source: The Argus, 14 Aug 1863)
It was the middle Yarra that had attracted artists to the river. In the 1860’s Eugene von Geurard set up his easel and painted “Sunset on the Yarra”, a sweeping landscape of the Yarra flats . A critic described this painting. “There is a picturesque variety of rocky and verdue-clad banks and steep and striking forms with rich colourings of foliage in trees and shrubs with a thousand lake-like bits of water.” Louis Buvelot painted “Summer Evening near Templestowe”, a pastoral scene of the river flats seen from the end of Thompsons Road also “Winter Morning Near Heidelberg”, a similar river scene on the north bank. A group of artists, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin (who had been taught by Buvelot) with Arthur Streeton Charles Condor and others, after camping at Box Hill came to Heidelberg in 1888. Here they were inspired by the Yarra landscape. It was such painting as Streeton’s “The Purple Noon’s Transparent Light” that established the reputation of Australian impressionism. (Source: Golden Summers)
By the end of the 1880s the Melbourne Harbour Trust had spent more than a quarter of a million pounds to improve the Yarra port facilities. They had widened and deepened the river channel, dug Coode Canal and built many new wharves. Twelve dredges were at work on the river, the “Melbourne” being equal to the largest in the world and nearly two miles of wharves lined both sides of the river.
These were the days of the land boom, a time of excitement and activity in all aspects of trade and business. The Yarra was alive with ships arriving, busy tugs nudging them into their dock while on the water, steam launches carried passengers across the river or towed lighters loaded with the cargos of ships tied up in the bay. . On the wharfs cranes deposited more goods on the already cluttered broad plank road. The Australian Pictorial Atlas described the scene.
“Huge piles of timber are stacked near the end of the embankment A couple of hundred stock cattle are being landed from a Queensland steamer, with much prodding of their broad flanks and great vociferation on the part of the sailors while a dozen stockriders keep watch over them armed with stock whips. On the east, a visitor is reminded of the pine forests of Scandinavia by the resinous odour of the planks that have just been brought up from the holds of a vessel. The wharf for half a mile is covered with iron rails, boiler plates, piles of pig iron, hillocks of slates, barb fencing wire, packages of machinery, slabs of marble, cases of drugs, hogheads of ale and and bales of general merchandise. Then comes a steam collier from Newcastle with a dozen dumpers, almost as black as negroes, handling baskets that have been hauled up from below. Next to it is a steamer unloading oats and potatoes from Tasmania. Cranes and derricks keep up a merry clatter.”
Next to the steam ferry at Spencer Street a small dock, in a basin called “little Dock” held coastal vessels and small intercolonial craft that bring produce from or load supplies for the Western district, Gippsland or Tasmania. At Queens Wharf, closer to the city, steamers load passengers for places such as Geelong, Belfast or Warnambool and bay steamers leave with tourists.
On the south of the river, timber vessels unload their cargos. Several acres behind the wharf the ground is stacked with timber. Many workshops hold coppersmiths, engineers, boilermakers and ship builders. Along here two dry docks open out of South Wharf and steamers for New Zealand and interstate ports take on their passengers. (Source: Australian Pictorial Atlas p62-64) The railways had constructed many new lines in the previous years with an increase of railwy engines. To provide a more efficient supply of coal for the engines the railways constructed a coal canal so that coal barges could bring coal right into the West Melbourne railway yards. (Source: Illustrated Australian News, 1 Apr 1892)
During these decades from the 60s to the 80s the Yarra had changed. No longer was it an unnavigable stream with primitive wharf facilities but a wide river flowing through Coode Canal bringing ships to docklands equal to those of older cities and along its length a series of bridges give access to the towns and farms on either bank of the river. The Yarra had come of age.
These were the days of the land boom, a time of excitement and activity in all aspects of trade and business. The Yarra was alive with ships arriving, busy tugs nudging them into their dock while on the water, steam launches carried passengers across the river or towed lighters loaded with the cargos of ships tied up in the bay. . On the wharfs cranes deposited more goods on the already cluttered broad plank road. The Australian Pictorial Atlas described the scene.
“Huge piles of timber are stacked near the end of the embankment A couple of hundred stock cattle are being landed from a Queensland steamer, with much prodding of their broad flanks and great vociferation on the part of the sailors while a dozen stockriders keep watch over them armed with stock whips. On the east, a visitor is reminded of the pine forests of Scandinavia by the resinous odour of the planks that have just been brought up from the holds of a vessel. The wharf for half a mile is covered with iron rails, boiler plates, piles of pig iron, hillocks of slates, barb fencing wire, packages of machinery, slabs of marble, cases of drugs, hogheads of ale and and bales of general merchandise. Then comes a steam collier from Newcastle with a dozen dumpers, almost as black as negroes, handling baskets that have been hauled up from below. Next to it is a steamer unloading oats and potatoes from Tasmania. Cranes and derricks keep up a merry clatter.”
Next to the steam ferry at Spencer Street a small dock, in a basin called “little Dock” held coastal vessels and small intercolonial craft that bring produce from or load supplies for the Western district, Gippsland or Tasmania. At Queens Wharf, closer to the city, steamers load passengers for places such as Geelong, Belfast or Warnambool and bay steamers leave with tourists.
On the south of the river, timber vessels unload their cargos. Several acres behind the wharf the ground is stacked with timber. Many workshops hold coppersmiths, engineers, boilermakers and ship builders. Along here two dry docks open out of South Wharf and steamers for New Zealand and interstate ports take on their passengers. (Source: Australian Pictorial Atlas p62-64) The railways had constructed many new lines in the previous years with an increase of railwy engines. To provide a more efficient supply of coal for the engines the railways constructed a coal canal so that coal barges could bring coal right into the West Melbourne railway yards. (Source: Illustrated Australian News, 1 Apr 1892)
During these decades from the 60s to the 80s the Yarra had changed. No longer was it an unnavigable stream with primitive wharf facilities but a wide river flowing through Coode Canal bringing ships to docklands equal to those of older cities and along its length a series of bridges give access to the towns and farms on either bank of the river. The Yarra had come of age.
Source: Tales of the Yarra River - Irvine Heber Green. Unpublished Manuscript.
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