The lower Yarra reaches of the river are often passed by without a thought.
We start in the heart of Williamstown where during the Gold Rush hundreds of ships from all parts of the world were abandoned with their crew lured by the gold fever and a fortune they all thought was there for the taking.
Hobsons Bay, the sheltered deep water anchorage was also where thousands of new arrivals would get the first glimpse of their new homeland after enduring the many months at sea and the fear of the roaring fifties of the icy Southern Ocean pushing them up through the uncharted waters of Bass Strait.
As we approach the river mouth off to the left is a sheltered bay, named in earlier times as Greenwich Bay. It was from here that a small jetty was built to link the Geelong rail line from Newport along North Road to the opposite side of the river. For many years this was where the black ash from the Newport Power Station was dumped. The curse of many a woman who hung their washing out to dry only to have to do it again the next day after the winds stirred up the insidious ash and deposited it for miles around.
The tall grey stack, a lone sentinel overlooking the entrance to the river at Newport gives no clue to its recent history. When it commenced construction many thought it could have an affect on the weather. Strangely enough the opposite is true without the added power in peak times the city would be much worse off and the skyscape has not been affected.
The old concrete ramps cut into the banks on either side of the river at Newport still mark the spot where for over a century commuters crossed the river by ferry. In the early days in horse and buggies till the car and bitumen roads caused the ferries demise.
The car ferry operated by the Williamstown Council gave commuters a quicker route to Melbourne and the Eastern Suburbs as well as providing a social occasion for us who just loved the steam and clanking of the old girl.
It was from here that a small backwater gave immense pleasure to the amateur fisherman and kids who called it colloquially the ‘Warmies” where the hot cooling water from the powerhouse enveloped the small harbour in a mist as if the bowls of the earth were erupting.
Sandy Point protecting Greenwich Bay or Dead Dog Bay as the locals preferred to name it was a favourite place for the canine lovers and photo lovers who still stroll along there and marvel at the passing ships seemingly close enough to see through their portholes.
Small pieces of protruding timber on the shore close by mark the last resting place for a number of the dreaded yellow hulks that had the unenviable task in colonial days of housing the miserable souls who were unlucky enough to be incarcerated in them. Many of them for crimes that today would be considered petty at the least. Some of the remains of the old oil wharves still remain along the banks where oil tankers discharged their black gold across Douglas Parade into the huge storage tanks situated close by.
The stunning Victorian architecture of the old Pumping Station at Spotswood is soon forgotten once you realise its purpose for being there. Your sense of smell soon invades your nostrils when even today a foul aroma still sweeps up through the river bed. Something us old enough remember vividly whilst passing too close to the outhouse which for so many years adorned the backyard of every house.
As we approach the Westgate Bridge we see the small tributary aptly known as Stoney Creek running down through the Spotswood Golf Course. It was from here that a significant amount of bluestone was quarried and taken down river to use as ballast for ships on their return journey home.
After leaving the Westgate Bridge in our wake we come to the mouth of the Salt Water River or the Maribyrnong as we know it today. The red brick warehouses of the old Sugar works are still a feature with the steel gantries of both the Phosphate and sugar works looking a bit forlorn these days. The river in the early days was a dumping ground for offal from the meatworks along its banks and other contamination from works until the Harbour Trust forced such premises to relocate.
The original course of the Maribyrnong River branched off in a shallow horseshoe curve named the ‘Humbug Reach’ re-entering the Yarra again at the West Melbourne Swamp near Dynon Road Opposite the sugar works at the rivers entrance is the dangerous chemical storage area formerly used as a slipway and workshop by the Melbourne Harbour Trust. It was from here that the British English engineer Sir John Coode was given the monumental task of redirecting the rivers course to the docks closer to the centre of the city.
Today we take for granted this wide curving stretch of the Yarra through Fishermans Bend as though it was always the natural course of the river meandering past rotten piles of wharves as though an architect placed them there for their aesthetic value for tourists to marvel at.
Brought out from England Coode’s design allowed larger ships to bypass the Maribyrnong altogether via a canal cut through Fisherman’s Bend with a much deeper depth allowing vessels to safely traverse the Yarra instead of the narrow and shallow waters of the “Humbug Reach” The canal was dug by hand and steam dredges with the mud being used for reclamation works along the river and at Williamstown and is aptly named after him.
Off to the South lies the remains of the old Melbourne Harbour Trust timber wharves which were never fully completed. The wharves were also used later to load cattle. Today the row of what look like totem poles are some of the original plies from these wharves. This area was also used for the scrapping of ships that had long since seen better days, it was aptly named ‘Rotten Row”.
By now we are passing Swanson Dock to our left which was part of the old swampy land on the North side of the river which after the war was used as the City tip. This stretch of no mans land was also home during the depression to squatters who built flimsy shelters out of any material they could lay their hands on. Parts of this area are now where the Docklands Precinct formerly Victoria Dock is located.
Opposite along the South side was the old timber and coal wharves which were so vital to the early development of Melbourne and where George Cole built the first wharf along the banks of the Yarra. It was also where Duke & Orrs dry dock was located now the home of the Polly Woodside.
We end our journey at the Swinging Basin which was as far upriver as large vessels could navigate. At the foot of Spencer Street alongside the Railway Viaduct was the small boat harbour where the mosquito fleet of ketches that serviced the islands of Bass Strait could be found loading and unloading their cargo.
The Yarra River is still the lifeline of the Port although Webb Dock creeping out into Hobsons Bay at an alarming rate gives cause for concern the business of the port is still tied to the safe navigation of this remarkable river. Like its bigger cousin the Thames in London, it binds two sides of the metropolis.