A SHORT MARITIMEHISTORY of HERITAGE SOUTH WHARF WALK actually date back to 1884. There are What you see now is a short section of four different types of sheds on site. what was once a very long wharf area. Some of the structures were taken It’s one of the few surviving relics of Jim Stynes apart and reconstructed in situ, while an extensive ship building and repair Flinders Wharf Bridge one of the sheds was completely industry that extended along the Yarra rolled off-site for restoration and then banks for nearly five kilometres below Yarra River wheeled back into place. the QueenSeafarers Street Bridge. Original floorboards were removed Small Bridgeboats had been built in the area and re-laid onto concrete slabs. Origi- since the 1840s, but it was Captains The glass, chrome and concrete of Orr & Co obtained its lease for land on nal features such as customs cages, John Hughes and William Sinnot who today’s South Wharf belies the fact which to also build a dry dock. offices and windows were restored into obtained a seven-year Crown lease of that it is one of Melbourne’s oldest and their primary locations, many fixtures land during the 1860s to build the first most colourful heritage precincts. The leases on both docks had expired and fittings were retained, and materi- graving dock, completed in 1868. The by 1900 and both the companies The cargo sheds that house the variety als salvaged during the restoration river was widened and wharf con- submitted plans to the government of restaurants look polished and near were reused wherever possible. struction started in the 1870s. In 1874 for an enlargement of their facilities to George Sampson Duke gained a three new, but they hark from a much earlier It was a painstaking and expensive accommodate ships up to 6000 tons acre Crown lease that had previously time and are the result of 6 years of process, but the attention to detail and a minimum size of 450 feet(137 been occupied as a dock by Thos. refurbishment and renewal. Between and quality is apparent, resulting in m). The rebuilding of Duke’s Dock in a Norton. Dukes Dock opened in 1875 2005 and 2011 a group of leading authenticity that creates a very special mixture of ironbark, redgum, bluegum and in mid 1876 the company Wright, Australian heritage architects and ambience. and grey box took 3 years and was designers transformed a very re-opened in 1904 at a cost of neglected part of the Yarra waterway £43,000. Competition between the into a showpiece blend of hospitality, two dry docks remained keen, but in shopping and businessDFO venues. 1910 the two adjacent docks decided Pollyto Woodside amalgamate. Duke’s Dock and The entire wharf was raised by 30cm Hilton Engineering Co. Pty Ltd and Wright, during restoration, and while the MCEC Orr & Co. formed Duke’s & Orr’s sheds have been restored to what they Amalgamated Dry Docks Ltd. looked like during the booming years of South Wharf – 1920 to 1940 – they Around the turn of the century steam began to overtake sail, which saw a huge increase in the amount of cargo carried on ships. Around that time, about 90% of everything that came into Victoria came via either Victoria Dock in the Docklands or via the river wharves. The creation of a new, faster, deeper and wider Yarra River in the late 1890s by the Harbor Trust, under the British maritime engineer John Coode, had enabled many large ships to come all the way into the city and to use South and North Wharves. 1 A SHORT HISTORY of SOUTH WHARF About a third of South Wharf was downstream. The building of Queens Since 1978 Duke and Orr’s Dry Dock built around the time of WW1, and it Bridge in 1889 was the first to cut off has accommodated the Trust’s 1885 was further extended downstream access, with the Spencer St Bridge barque Polly Woodside, which opened Jim Stynes during the 1920s. South Wharf was the Flinders Wharf following in 1930. The final blow was to the public following 60,000 hoursJim Stynes Bridge main dock for timber and steel. It was delivered in 1975 when the Johnson of voluntary restoration. The length of Bridge also the place where travellers and Street Bridge (now called Charles the dock was reduced (by about one cargo from interstate arrived. The dry Grimes Bridge) was opened, third) to allow the construction of the docks at South Wharf facilitatedYarra River the whichSeafarers completely closed access Melbourne Exhibition Centre, which cleaning and repair of many of to largerBridge ships. opened in February 1996. The old these ships. dock was partially filled with 11,000 When it closed in August 1975 Duke tons of bricks to reduce the volume and Orr’s Dock had been in almost of water and to help support the Ship repair and cleaning flourished continuous operation for 100 years. wooden walls. through WW1 and into the 1920s. It was the last timber walled dry dock However, the Great Depression re- to operate in Australia, and, of its size, In 2009, as part of the public/private duced the need for dock facilities. In possibly in the world. partnership to build the new Melbourne May 1932, Orr’s Dock handled its last Convention Centre, the dock was In 1977 the site was ceded by the refitted and made even shallower, ship and by 1935 it had been filled-in. State Government to the National Trust. It had not been helped by severe dam- including the fitting of a new caisson in age from two floods during the early 1920s and in 1935. In the years up to The Interstate Swinging Basin (now World War II business picked up due where Marina YE is located) was being to the end of the Depression and there constantly enlarged and improved over was again brisk trade as Australia this period. In 1931 it wasDFO enlarged geared up for the Pacific War. Duke’s again, with new timber and concrete Dock was nowHilton able to take ships up Polly Woodside wharves installed. Sixteen new berths to the 7000-8000-ton (7112 -8128 MCEC below the Swinging Basin gave a tonne) range. total berthage space of 6,944 feet. By 1916, sailing ships, barques, brigs, The dock was very busy during and brigantines, schooners and cutters had immediately after World War II. How- largely disappeared, but the number ever the late 1950s saw the end of the of steamers had nearly doubled. coastal shipping trade in Australia and international ships became too large In 1878 the net registered tonnage was to be accommodated in the dock. The 1,159 tons. By 1916 it was 5,555,000. dock could not be extended further Turn-around was also much quicker. because Normanby Road prevented While a four masted schooner bringing extension to the south east. The dock timber from Scandinavia in the 1880s closed as a commercial operation in might have waited months for a return August 1975. cargo of wheat, the new vessels were being unloaded and reloaded within A succession of new, low-lying bridges a week. on the Lower Yarra had also progres- sively forced the city’s shipping activity 2 A SHORT HISTORYMARITIME of HERITAGE SOUTH WHARF WALK South Wharf Association is indebted to the following people and sources for the information used in this article. Jim Stynes Flinders Wharf UÊ ÕVÀV ]ÊÕ`Ì ]ʼ V>`ÃÊÃÌÀÞ½ Bridge UÊ }iiÀ}ÊiÀÌ>}iÊ6VÌÀ>Ê Engineering Heritage Australia Yarra River Seafarers Heritage Recognition Program Bridge UÊ >Ì>Ê/ÀÕÃÌÊvÊÕÃÌÀ>>Ê­6VÌÀ>®]ÊÊ East Melbourne UÊ "ÌÌ]ÊÀÃ̰ʼ9>ÀÀ>\Ê/ iÊÃÌÀÞÊvÊ place of the old wooden mitre gates. Melbourne’s Murky River’ 2009 The Victorian Government provided UÊ 7`iÞ]ÊÀÌ ÕÀÊ °Ê>`Ê ÌÌiÀ]Ê L°ÊÊÊ $8.86 million for the refurbishment of Ê ¼ Õi½ÃÊEÊ"ÀÀ½ÃÊ ÀÞÊ V½]Ê£nx° the dock, while the Plenary Group and the National Trust provided $4 million for works on the adjacent area and on the vessel itself. At the same time, the original Pump “The work carried out in these docks was characterised by being House was enclosed in a glass building next to the Melbourne dangerous, dirty and often carried out under considerable pressure Convention Centre, with parts of the from ship owners who wanted their ship back in the water as soon original timber framed building removed to allow public viewing. as possible. The men (they were all men) who worked in these docks South Wharf’s striking pedestrianDFO were a tough bunch. They got up early on freezing winter mornings and “Seafarers’ Bridge” opened in 2009, Polly Woodside after more than 500 submissions were walked or cycledHilton to the dock. They worked down in the docks, often in received for a name to honour the rich cold, filthy sea water for long hours scraping, cleaning,MCEC painting and maritime history of the area. repairing ships. They worked in the confined space under the keels of Today’s community of workers at the ships amongst the keel blocks or on makeshift planking high up on South Wharf comprise white collar professional, retail and hospitality the sides of the ships without any safety equipment except their own staff – a far cry from the community knowhow. They handled massive baulks of timber with their bare hands.” that once used the area on a daily basis. The dry docks and associated marine industries drew their workforce from the small workers’ cottages at The Painters and Dockers Union had its Melbourne office in the yard of the northern end of South Melbourne Duke’s & Orr’s Amalgamated Dry Docks Ltd from its establishment in and in Port Melbourne.