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Home > Community > Maritime history >
History of the port
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The first people
When James Cook, captain of The Endeavour,
first sighted the Victorian coast in 1770, aborigines had been
living in the Port Phillip Bay region for at least 40,000 years.
Generations of the first people would have seen the creation of the
bay itself, as the waters rose to fill Bass Strait and cut off
Tasmania from the mainland about 11,000 years ago. There were five
clans around the bay area making up the Woiwurung language group.
The Wurundjeri-William clan inhabited the area where the current
port is situated. The area teemed with water plants and bird life.
It was a favoured hunting ground for the Kooris who set fish traps,
hunted small birds and animals, and foraged for roots, seeds,
leaves
and insects. ^ TOP
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The
newcomers
British ships first visited Port Phillip
in 1802 and 1803. The first European to explore the Yarra Riverwas
Charles Grimes, Surveyor General of New South Wales, in January
1803. Rowing up the river, he passed a reef near today's Queen
Street, which separated the tidal salt water from the Yarra's fresh
drinking water. The Grimes party reported that this made the Yarra
'the most eligible place for a settlement' - a discovery that is
often misleadingly credited to John Batman, who arrived thirty-two
years later in 1835. When a rowboat from his ship, the
Rebecca , was sent up the Yarra there is no evidence
that Batman himself was aboard. He later noted that 'this will be
the place for a village' but he was echoing the Grimes' expedition's
discovery. ^ TOP |
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Early problems
The
original site of Melbourne was chosen for its access to fresh water
rather than its potential as a port. An underwater bar at the
entrance of the Yarra River ruled out the entry of vessels drawing
more than about nine feet of water. Ships arriving from overseas had
to drop anchor in Hobson's Bay, or at the Sandridge (Port Melbourne)
Pier. Passengers and goods then had to be transhipped up the river
in smaller vessels or 'lighters' as they were called. These charged
excessive amounts. It has been recorded that it cost 30 shillings
per ton (half the entire freight costs for the voyage from England)
to have goods taken the eight miles from sea to city, and the
average delay in 1858 was three weeks. |
The discovery of gold in
1850 exacerbated the problems of the port. In just one week in 1853
nearly 4000 passengers from 138 ships arrived in Hobson's Bay. In
1851 the population of Victoria was 77,000. Ten years later it had
increased six times, to reach 461,000. This growth placed an
enormous strain on both the port and the town. Some favoured a
simple solution to the problem such as removing the bar and dredging
a deeper channel to the river. Others proposed developing
alternative port facilities at Port Melbourne or Williamstown.^ TOP |
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The Melbourne Harbor
Trust
Following pressure from several Boards of
Inquiry, the Melbourne Harbor Trust was finally established in 1877.
Its task was to improve access for shipping to Melbourne proper, but
political pressure from rival port communities at Port Melbourne and
Williamstown meant that it was several years before its
recommendations were brought into effect.
The Trust employed the British engineer Sir John Coode to suggest
how best to upgrade all aspects of the port. As well as seeking to
improve the traffic flow in the river by widening and deepening it,
he proposed removing the falls and raising the embankments to lessen
the likelihood of floods. He also proposed to straighten the Yarra’s
course by cutting a channel from west of Flinders Street to below
its junction with the Maribyrnong. These works were all undertaken
in the 1880s, and the Coode Canal was in use by 1886. ^ TOP
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Victoria
Dock
Another of Coode's recommendations was that the
land southwest of the rail yards be used for another major dock
facility. Consequently Victoria Dock was opened in 1893. By 1908 it
was handling ninety per cent of Victoria's imports. In 1914 its
capacity was enlarged by the addition of a central pier and in 1925
the entrance was widened.
With rapidly increasing tonnage figures and further renovation
and development, the period between the two world wars was very
significant in the development of the Melbourne docks. Victoria Dock
and the adjacent North Wharf on the river continued to play a vital
role, handling half of the Port of Melbourne's trade. As ships
increased in size so did the needs of the river and wharves to
accommodate them. Channels and berths continually required dredging.
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Other factors also
influenced the development of the docks. The growth of automobile
ownership necessitated the need for more bridges over the Yarra.
Before the 1920s only Princes Bridge and the Queen Street Bridge
were in operation. The construction of the Spencer Street Bridge in
1927-28
meant that all port traffic had to be handled further
downstream, and foreshadowed the need for more docks.^ TOP |
World War
II
During World War II, Melbourne's role as the
chief supply point for US forces meant that available work
increased. The port had to cope with the sudden influx of ships
carrying troops or cargo requiring a quick turnaround. New kinds of
mechanical cargo such as planes, tanks and artillery needed new
forms of handling. The needs of war also brought about further
renovations and the arrival of better handling devices such as the
forklift. ^ TOP |
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Modern times
The
post-war period saw the further development of the dock area as well
as its progressive march downstream. Appleton Dock, built on the
site of the old course of the Yarra, was planned since the 1930s,
but because of the war was not completed until 1956. In 1960, Webb
Dock, at the mouth of the Yarra, provided roll-on-roll-off capacity
mainly for the transport of motorists to and from Tasmania. The
complement of post- war docks was completed with the building of
Swanson Dock, the port's major container terminal. This reflected
the change to shipping cargo in uniform sized containers at the
beginning of the 1960s, which brought new requirements for port
areas. |
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Rather than needing storage sheds close to the wharf, more
open space was required for the storage of containers. The Port of
Melbourne was fortunate in this regard since it still possessed
reclaimed swampland that could be used for this purpose. Today,
Melbourne is Australia's largest and busiest container port and one
of the nation’s largest general cargo ports.
For many years
following the war the port's passenger terminal facility at Station
Pier in Port Melbourne was the home of the migrant ships bringing
European migrants to Australia. Today Station Pier's passenger
business is made up entirely of cruise ships, and the Tasmanian
ferries,
Spirit of Tasmania I & II.
Wharf conditions and payment rates for workers improved
dramatically after the war. The modern era has seen a major decline
in the amount of manual work involved because of containerisation
and other technological developments.
In addition to the physical changes brought about by
construction of new dock facilities post war, the erection of the Sir
Charles Grimes Bridge between the Railway Yards and Victoria Dock in
1975 saw the further closure of the river wharves east of its span.
The construction of the Bolte Bridge as part of the CityLink Tollway
downstream from Victoria Dock has meant the closure of most of that
historic dock’s facilities. The approaches had already become too
narrow for many of today’s ships. Victoria Dock is now a major
element in the Docklands development and is now called Victoria
Harbour.^ TOP
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