Port Melbourne, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Port Melbourne is a suburb of Melbourne
, Victoria
, Australia
, 5 km southwest of Melbourne's central business district
. Its Local Government areas are the cities of Port Phillip
and Melbourne
. At the 2006 Census, Port Melbourne had a population of 13,293.
The suburb is bordered by the shore of Hobsons Bay
and the lower reaches of the Yarra River
. Port Melbourne covers a large area which includes the distinct localities of Fishermans Bend, Garden City and Beacon Cove.
The area to the north of the West Gate Freeway
is in the City of Melbourne
. The area to the south is in the City of Port Phillip
.
Historically it was known as Sandridge and developed as the city's second port, linked to the nearby Melbourne CBD.
The formerly industrial Port Melbourne has been subject to intense urban renewal
over the past decade. As a result, Port Melbourne is a diverse and historic area, featuring industrial and port areas along the Yarra to open parklands, bayside beaches, exclusive apartments and Bay Street's restaurants and cafes. The suburb also forms a major transport link from east to west, home to one end of the West Gate Bridge
.
of the 1850s. With an increasing amount of ships looking to berth, Sandridge became a thriving transport hub. To alleviate the high costs of shipping goods via small vessels up the Yarra River to Melbourne the Port Melbourne Line was built in 1854 to connect Sandridge to Melbourne. The disused Sandridge Bridge takes its name from this historic railway line.
In 1860, Port Melbourne was an early areas of Victoria to gain municipal status with the Sandridge Borough which later became the City of Port Melbourne
.
In the early years of Port Melbourne, the suburb was separated from neighboring Albert Park
by a large shallow lagoon
. This was gradually filled in over the years, with the last of it completed in 1929. Today, the area is largely covered by the eponymous Lagoon Reserve, a public park to the east of the Esplanade between Liardet Street and Graham Street, although the original extent of the lagoon was much greater.
As a transport hub, Port Melbourne had numerous hotels. Early industries included a sugar refining
, soap production, candle works, chemical works
, rice and flour mills, gasworks
, a distillery and a boot factory. Station
and Princes Pier
s were major places of arrival to Australia for immigrants prior to the availability of affordable air travel
.
For many years Port Melbourne was a focus of Melbourne's criminal underworld, which operated smuggling
syndicates on the docks. The old Ships Painters and Dockers Union was notorious for being controlled by gangsters. The Waterside Workers Federation, on the other hand, was a stronghold of the Communist Party of Australia
.
With the amalgamation of the local council into the City of Port Phillip
in 1994, many of Port Melbourne's civic institutions were adaptively reused. As a result, the Port Melbourne Town Hall
is now a public library
.
As the importance of the port has declined, and as manufacturing industries have moved out of the inner city area, Port Melbourne has increasingly become a residential suburb. The area where Port Melbourne originally developed, around Station Pier
and the currently derelict Princes Pier
, has been redeveloped with a mixture of apartment complexes and medium-density housing
, the best known of which is the Beacon Cove development.
which runs north toward the Bolte Bridge
. Other main roads include Bay Street, Williamstown Road, Lorimer Street (which runs along the Yarra River), Graham Street, Salmon Street and Inglis Street and Beach Street (which runs toward Beaconsfield Parade and St Kilda). Port Melbourne's roads are a mix of planning styles and as a result can be difficult to navigate.
Port Melbourne is serviced by an extensive bus network which connects it to Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs.
_at_station_pier.jpg)
Port Melbourne is serviced by Melbourne tram route 109
which has been run as a high patronage high frequency light rail service since the heavy rail line was converted to light rail in 1987. While there are several disused freight rail links, the light rail is the only used rail connection to Port Melbourne.
There have been a number of proposals for tram and light rail extension in Port Melbourne:
St Kilda-Port Melbourne link
A 5 kilometre tram link between St Kilda, Victoria
and Port Melbourne along Beaconsfield Parade was first raised by the City of Port Phillip
in 2005. The City of Port Phillip's 2007 feasibility study into the route found that the high density population could sustain around 200,000 annual commuter trips and that the link would be financially viable if tourists were charged $6 per one-way trip.
To address residents concerns over possible loss of beachfront views, the council investigated the possibility of a new high-tech line, involving wire-free operation. Critics argued that it would be duplicating the 112 route, with the two routes running in parallel just 200 metres apart for about 2 kilometres along Beaconsfield Parade. However a direct tram journey between St Kilda and Port Melbourne is not possible and currently requires a change of routes at Southbank which is a 20-kilometre round trip.
Fishermans Bend proposal
During the Australian Greens
2007 federal election campaign a call was made for more federal funding of public transport projects including a proposal for a new light rail route from Melbourne to Port Melbourne and/or Garden City via Lorimer Street to service the once industrial inner city suburb's fast growing business and residential areas and to open up the possibility of future high density residential development along the route.
s, naval vessels and ferries arrive at Station Pier, including the daily ferry service, (the Spirit of Tasmania
operated by TT-Line Pty. Ltd.), to Tasmania
. Cargo traffic takes place further west, near the mouth of the Yarra River
, principally at Webb Dock.
buildings. The Port Melbourne population now combines significant numbers of wealthy people with those who live in public housing
and other "old Port" locales. The area has many residents whose families came from Greece
in the 1950s, as well as more recent arrivals from Africa
and Asia
.
Port Melbourne is currently the home of Circus Oz
, Australia's world-famous contemporary circus
, which has its international headquarters on the corner of Bay Street and Rouse Street.
The Maritime Union of Australia
maintains a strong presence in the area.
was shot dead in Bay St, Port Melbourne. The crime remains unsolved.
, an Association Football team who has produced names such as Daniel Allsopp
and Rodrigo Vargas
. The team currently competes in the Victorian State League Division 1
which is the third tier
in Australia behind the A-League
and the Victorian Premier League
.
The Port Melbourne Football Club
, known as "the Borough" is one of Melbourne's oldest Australian rules football
sides, and plays in the Victorian Football League
. Another local team is the Port Melbourne Colts, which plays in the Western Region Football League
.
a few years earlier during the Garden City Movement
. The early development was built as low-cost housing by the State Bank, with later additions of public housing by the Housing Commission of Victoria
. It comprises semi-attached double-storey houses arranged around a series of public open spaces in a distorted Beaux-Arts layout. Contrary to popular belief, the "Bank Houses" were never public housing and have always been in private hands. The "Bank Houses" area later became known as "nobs hill", a reference to relative wealth of their occupants compared to the residents of the clinker brick public housing that was added later. The Housing Commission area was known as 'Little Baghdad'.
The Garden City post office in Centre Avenue 37.8362°N 144.9199°W has been open since 1945.
, some commercial space, a small number of cafes and restaurants, and a gym
. It was developed over the decade from 1996 by Australian developer Mirvac, following the collapse of the "Sandridge City" scheme for a gated community
featuring canalside housing. The site was formerly an industrial facility. Beacon Cove features a waterfront promenade, palm-lined boulevards and a layout that allows the retention of two operational shipping beacons. Most of the low-rise housing is arranged around a series of small parks, in a postmodern scaled-down Beaux-Arts plan similar in layout to nearby St Vincent Gardens in Albert Park
. Along the foreshore is a series of 11-14 storey high-rise apartment towers with a small amount of very upmarket low-rise housing at the western end directly fronting Sandridge Beach. The layout re-routed Beach Street away from the foreshore and the apartments along the waterfront have direct access to the promenade. The development was completed in stages, working west from Princes Street, and this is reflected in the different styles of architecture.
. It is positioned immediately to the east of the West Gate Bridge
, on the south bank of the Yarra River
, adjacent to the suburb of Port Melbourne and opposite Coode Island on the north shore of the Yarra River.
Fishermans Bend originally included the area now known as Garden City, which was renamed in 1929.
From the 1850s, the site was a location for Bay fishermen of European descent. Some thirty families lived on the Bend, frequently finding additional work in the docks and cargo ships; ballast was loaded onto ships returning to Europe. Habitation was in rough shacks along the Bend, made from corrugated iron, flattened kerosene
tins or wood. There were no roads, shops
, or sewerage
. Water was collected from hanging out sail canvases, and stored in iron tanks or casks milk came from a nearby farm. Fishing
continues on the Bay, but today only two fishing licences belong to descendants of these early pioneer settlers. The last remaining shack on the Bend was demolished in 1970, to make way for Webb Dock. The new Surf Life Saving Club
headquarters stand on the site. (Meiers 2006)
The neighbourhood of Fishermans Bend also has a significant place in Australian aviation history, being the home of several prominent historical Australian aircraft design and manufacturing companies including the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation
, General Motors
Holden
, Smorgon Steel
, Government Aircraft Factories
, the Aeronautical Research Laboratory
and regional facilities for Boeing
.
Fishermans Bend is a primarily industrial centre at the foot of the Westgate Bridge, and contains major establishments for the Defence Science and Technology Organisation
, Holden Australia, Hawker de Havilland, GKN Aerospace Engineering Services, the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures
, Kraft Foods
, Toyota Australia
, port security and a campus of RMIT University
.
It also has a marina
known as d'Albora Marinas Pier 35, and several container ship
ports.
Fishermans Bend has a single large reserve known as Westgate Park, a large natural wetland
.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, 5 km southwest of Melbourne's central business district
Melbourne city centre
Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...
. Its Local Government areas are the cities of Port Phillip
City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....
and Melbourne
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...
. At the 2006 Census, Port Melbourne had a population of 13,293.
The suburb is bordered by the shore of Hobsons Bay
Hobsons Bay
Hobsons Bay is a bay in Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia....
and the lower reaches of the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
. Port Melbourne covers a large area which includes the distinct localities of Fishermans Bend, Garden City and Beacon Cove.
The area to the north of the West Gate Freeway
West Gate Freeway
West Gate Freeway is a freeway in Melbourne, Australia, linking Geelong to Melbourne CBD and beyond. It is also a link between Melbourne and the west and linking industrial and residential areas west of the Yarra River with the city and port areas. The iconic West Gate Bridge is a part of the...
is in the City of Melbourne
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...
. The area to the south is in the City of Port Phillip
City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....
.
Historically it was known as Sandridge and developed as the city's second port, linked to the nearby Melbourne CBD.
The formerly industrial Port Melbourne has been subject to intense urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
over the past decade. As a result, Port Melbourne is a diverse and historic area, featuring industrial and port areas along the Yarra to open parklands, bayside beaches, exclusive apartments and Bay Street's restaurants and cafes. The suburb also forms a major transport link from east to west, home to one end of the West Gate Bridge
West Gate Bridge
The West Gate Bridge is a steel box girder cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River, just north of its mouth into Port Phillip, and is a vital link between the inner city and Melbourne's western suburbs with the industrial suburbs in the west and with the city...
.
History
The area known as Port Melbourne was first settled in 1839 by Wilbraham Liardet, who established a hotel, jetty, and mail service. It was initially known as Liardet's Beach, though soon took on the official name of Sandridge, and finally Port Melbourne in 1884. The area came into prominence during the Victorian gold rushVictorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
of the 1850s. With an increasing amount of ships looking to berth, Sandridge became a thriving transport hub. To alleviate the high costs of shipping goods via small vessels up the Yarra River to Melbourne the Port Melbourne Line was built in 1854 to connect Sandridge to Melbourne. The disused Sandridge Bridge takes its name from this historic railway line.
In 1860, Port Melbourne was an early areas of Victoria to gain municipal status with the Sandridge Borough which later became the City of Port Melbourne
City of Port Melbourne
The City of Port Melbourne was a Local Government Area located about southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River...
.
In the early years of Port Melbourne, the suburb was separated from neighboring Albert Park
Albert Park, Victoria
Albert Park is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, Albert Park had a population of 5827....
by a large shallow lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
. This was gradually filled in over the years, with the last of it completed in 1929. Today, the area is largely covered by the eponymous Lagoon Reserve, a public park to the east of the Esplanade between Liardet Street and Graham Street, although the original extent of the lagoon was much greater.
As a transport hub, Port Melbourne had numerous hotels. Early industries included a sugar refining
Sugar refinery
A sugar refinery is a factory which refines raw sugar.Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, i.e. sugar with more colour and therefore more impurities than the white sugar which is normally consumed in households and used as an ingredient in soft drinks, cookies and so forth...
, soap production, candle works, chemical works
Chemical industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
, rice and flour mills, gasworks
Gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is a factory for the manufacture of gas. The use of natural gas has made many redundant in the developed world, however they are often still used for storage.- Early gasworks :...
, a distillery and a boot factory. Station
Station Pier
Station Pier is an historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register....
and Princes Pier
Princes Pier
Princes Pier is a 580 metre long historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was known as the New Railway Pier until renamed Prince's Pier after the Prince of Wales who visited Melbourne in May 1920.-History:The pier was constructed between 1912 and 1915 by the...
s were major places of arrival to Australia for immigrants prior to the availability of affordable air travel
Air travel
Air travel is a form of travel in vehicles such as airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, blimps, gliders, hang gliding, parachuting or anything else that can sustain flight.-Domestic and international flights:...
.
For many years Port Melbourne was a focus of Melbourne's criminal underworld, which operated smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
syndicates on the docks. The old Ships Painters and Dockers Union was notorious for being controlled by gangsters. The Waterside Workers Federation, on the other hand, was a stronghold of the Communist Party of Australia
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia was founded in 1920 and dissolved in 1991; it was succeeded by the Socialist Party of Australia, which then renamed itself, becoming the current Communist Party of Australia. The CPA achieved its greatest political strength in the 1940s and faced an attempted...
.
With the amalgamation of the local council into the City of Port Phillip
City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....
in 1994, many of Port Melbourne's civic institutions were adaptively reused. As a result, the Port Melbourne Town Hall
Port Melbourne Town Hall
The Port Melbourne Town Hall was erected in 1882. The Town Hall is an important element in the historic Bay Street streetscape of inner city Port Melbourne....
is now a public library
Public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
.
As the importance of the port has declined, and as manufacturing industries have moved out of the inner city area, Port Melbourne has increasingly become a residential suburb. The area where Port Melbourne originally developed, around Station Pier
Station Pier
Station Pier is an historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register....
and the currently derelict Princes Pier
Princes Pier
Princes Pier is a 580 metre long historic pier on Port Phillip, in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was known as the New Railway Pier until renamed Prince's Pier after the Prince of Wales who visited Melbourne in May 1920.-History:The pier was constructed between 1912 and 1915 by the...
, has been redeveloped with a mixture of apartment complexes and medium-density housing
Medium-density housing
Medium density housing is a term used in Australia to describe residential developments that are at higher densities than standard low-density, suburban subdivisions, but not so high that they might be regarded as high density housing. The density of standard suburban residential areas has...
, the best known of which is the Beacon Cove development.
Road
Two major freeways run through Port Melbourne, the Westgate Freeway which runs east-west from the Westgate Bridge and CityLinkCityLink
CityLink is a system of tolled urban Highways in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two existing freeways and construct two new Toll roads—labelled the Western and Southern Links—directly linking a number of existing freeways to...
which runs north toward the Bolte Bridge
Bolte Bridge
The Bolte Bridge is a large twin Cantilever bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour in the Docklands precinct to the west of the Melbourne CBD...
. Other main roads include Bay Street, Williamstown Road, Lorimer Street (which runs along the Yarra River), Graham Street, Salmon Street and Inglis Street and Beach Street (which runs toward Beaconsfield Parade and St Kilda). Port Melbourne's roads are a mix of planning styles and as a result can be difficult to navigate.
Port Melbourne is serviced by an extensive bus network which connects it to Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs.
Rail
Melbourne tram route 109
Tram route 109 or simply The 109 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs between a terminus in Box Hill and a terminus near Station Pier in Port Melbourne...
which has been run as a high patronage high frequency light rail service since the heavy rail line was converted to light rail in 1987. While there are several disused freight rail links, the light rail is the only used rail connection to Port Melbourne.
There have been a number of proposals for tram and light rail extension in Port Melbourne:
St Kilda-Port Melbourne link
A 5 kilometre tram link between St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
and Port Melbourne along Beaconsfield Parade was first raised by the City of Port Phillip
City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.62 km² and has an estimated population of 96,110 people....
in 2005. The City of Port Phillip's 2007 feasibility study into the route found that the high density population could sustain around 200,000 annual commuter trips and that the link would be financially viable if tourists were charged $6 per one-way trip.
To address residents concerns over possible loss of beachfront views, the council investigated the possibility of a new high-tech line, involving wire-free operation. Critics argued that it would be duplicating the 112 route, with the two routes running in parallel just 200 metres apart for about 2 kilometres along Beaconsfield Parade. However a direct tram journey between St Kilda and Port Melbourne is not possible and currently requires a change of routes at Southbank which is a 20-kilometre round trip.
Fishermans Bend proposal
During the Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
2007 federal election campaign a call was made for more federal funding of public transport projects including a proposal for a new light rail route from Melbourne to Port Melbourne and/or Garden City via Lorimer Street to service the once industrial inner city suburb's fast growing business and residential areas and to open up the possibility of future high density residential development along the route.
Port
Today, Port Melbourne still serves as a transport hub for passenger and cargo vessels. Many luxury linerLuxury liner
Luxury liner may refer to:*Passenger ships with a high standard of accommodation, especially ocean liners*Luxury Liner , a 1977 album by Emmylou Harris*"Luxury Liner" , 1948 motion picture from MGM...
s, naval vessels and ferries arrive at Station Pier, including the daily ferry service, (the Spirit of Tasmania
Spirit of Tasmania
Spirit of Tasmania may refer to:* The trading name of TT-Line Pty. Ltd.* One of the following ferries that sailed under the name of Spirit of Tasmania during its careers:** ** ** **...
operated by TT-Line Pty. Ltd.), to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. Cargo traffic takes place further west, near the mouth of the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
, principally at Webb Dock.
Housing
Houses in Port Melbourne range from single-fronted Victorian timber worker's cottages to new apartments and housing developments. Port Melbourne has undergone a major demographic shift in the past twenty years, from one of the cheapest and poorest suburbs in the city to one of the most expensive and wealthiest. Many large apartment developments in Port Melbourne occupy large blocks of land, taking over large factories and warehouses, such as HM@S project in Beach Street, ID Apartments in Pickles and Rouse Streets, and Bayshore and Bayview Apartments in Bay Street. Each of these developments comprise multiple buildings, and many of the redevelopments have preserved the heritageCultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
buildings. The Port Melbourne population now combines significant numbers of wealthy people with those who live in public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
and other "old Port" locales. The area has many residents whose families came from Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
in the 1950s, as well as more recent arrivals from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
Commerce
Bay Street is Port Melbourne's main and historic commercial area.Port Melbourne is currently the home of Circus Oz
Circus Oz
Circus Oz was founded in December 1977, with its first performance season in March 1978. Circus Oz was the amalgamation of two already well-known groups - Soapbox Circus, a roadshow set up by the Australian Performing Group in 1976, and the New Ensemble Circus, a continuation of the New Circus,...
, Australia's world-famous contemporary circus
Contemporary circus
Contemporary circus, or nouveau cirque , is a genre of performing art developed in the later 20th century in which a story or a theme is conveyed through traditional circus skills. Animals are rarely used in this type of circus, and traditional circus skills are blended with a more character-driven...
, which has its international headquarters on the corner of Bay Street and Rouse Street.
The Maritime Union of Australia
Maritime Union of Australia
The Maritime Union of Australia covers waterside workers, seafarers, port workers, professional divers, and office workers associated with Australian ports. As of 2011 the union has about 13,000 members. It is an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation and represents the...
maintains a strong presence in the area.
Crime
In May 2002 the underworld figure Victor PeirceVictor Peirce
Victor George Peirce was an Australian criminal from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Peirce was a member of the Pettingill family, headed by matriarch and former Richmond brothel owner Kath Pettingill....
was shot dead in Bay St, Port Melbourne. The crime remains unsolved.
Sport
Port Melbourne is represented by Port Melbourne SharksPort Melbourne Sharks
The Port Melbourne Sharks are an Australian association football club from Port Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The club was formed in 1968 by local Greek Australians, and were promoted as Champions of Victorian State League Division 2 for season 2010.They will play season...
, an Association Football team who has produced names such as Daniel Allsopp
Daniel Allsopp
Daniel Lee "Danny" Allsopp is an Australian professional football player.He is a full international for the Australia national football team, and is Melbourne Victory's second highest, and the A-League's third highest all-time goalscorer, behind teammate Archie Thompson and Shane Smeltz.-Club...
and Rodrigo Vargas
Rodrigo Vargas
Rodrigo Alejandro "Roddy" Vargas is a Australian football player. He currently plays as a central defender for the Australian A-League club Melbourne Victory.-Club career:...
. The team currently competes in the Victorian State League Division 1
Victorian State League Division 1
The Victorian State League Division 1 is the second tier association football competition in Victoria, Australia, and the third nationally, including the A-League...
which is the third tier
Australian football (soccer) league system
The Australian league system for football is a series of leagues for club soccer in Australia . The league system in Australia since 1977 has involved a one divisional league controlled by the national body and many leagues run within each state below...
in Australia behind the A-League
A-League
The A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
and the Victorian Premier League
Victorian Premier League
The Victorian Premier League is the highest State level association football competition in Victoria, Australia, and second highest nationally after the A-League...
.
The Port Melbourne Football Club
Port Melbourne Football Club
The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne and is currently playing in the Victorian Football League ....
, known as "the Borough" is one of Melbourne's oldest Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
sides, and plays in the Victorian Football League
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
. Another local team is the Port Melbourne Colts, which plays in the Western Region Football League
Western Region Football League
The Western Region Football League is an Australian rules football semi-professional league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, for both seniors and juniors.-History:The league was formed in 1931, as the Footscray District Football League...
.
Garden City
Garden City is a locality within Port Melbourne and the City of Port Phillip. It started in the 1920s as a planned "garden suburb" similar to those built in BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
a few years earlier during the Garden City Movement
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
. The early development was built as low-cost housing by the State Bank, with later additions of public housing by the Housing Commission of Victoria
Housing Commission of Victoria
The Housing Commission of Victoria was a State Government body responsible for public housing in Victoria, Australia...
. It comprises semi-attached double-storey houses arranged around a series of public open spaces in a distorted Beaux-Arts layout. Contrary to popular belief, the "Bank Houses" were never public housing and have always been in private hands. The "Bank Houses" area later became known as "nobs hill", a reference to relative wealth of their occupants compared to the residents of the clinker brick public housing that was added later. The Housing Commission area was known as 'Little Baghdad'.
The Garden City post office in Centre Avenue 37.8362°N 144.9199°W has been open since 1945.
Beacon Cove
Beacon Cove is a locality within Port Melbourne and the City of Port Phillip. It comprises approximately 1100 dwellings in a mixture of low-rise medium density and high-rise housing, with a small supermarketSupermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
, some commercial space, a small number of cafes and restaurants, and a gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
. It was developed over the decade from 1996 by Australian developer Mirvac, following the collapse of the "Sandridge City" scheme for a gated community
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
featuring canalside housing. The site was formerly an industrial facility. Beacon Cove features a waterfront promenade, palm-lined boulevards and a layout that allows the retention of two operational shipping beacons. Most of the low-rise housing is arranged around a series of small parks, in a postmodern scaled-down Beaux-Arts plan similar in layout to nearby St Vincent Gardens in Albert Park
Albert Park, Victoria
Albert Park is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip. At the 2006 Census, Albert Park had a population of 5827....
. Along the foreshore is a series of 11-14 storey high-rise apartment towers with a small amount of very upmarket low-rise housing at the western end directly fronting Sandridge Beach. The layout re-routed Beach Street away from the foreshore and the apartments along the waterfront have direct access to the promenade. The development was completed in stages, working west from Princes Street, and this is reflected in the different styles of architecture.
Fishermans Bend
Fishermans Bend (formerly Fishermen's Bend) is a locality within Port Melbourne and the City of MelbourneCity of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...
. It is positioned immediately to the east of the West Gate Bridge
West Gate Bridge
The West Gate Bridge is a steel box girder cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River, just north of its mouth into Port Phillip, and is a vital link between the inner city and Melbourne's western suburbs with the industrial suburbs in the west and with the city...
, on the south bank of the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
, adjacent to the suburb of Port Melbourne and opposite Coode Island on the north shore of the Yarra River.
Fishermans Bend originally included the area now known as Garden City, which was renamed in 1929.
From the 1850s, the site was a location for Bay fishermen of European descent. Some thirty families lived on the Bend, frequently finding additional work in the docks and cargo ships; ballast was loaded onto ships returning to Europe. Habitation was in rough shacks along the Bend, made from corrugated iron, flattened kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
tins or wood. There were no roads, shops
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
, or sewerage
Sewerage
Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...
. Water was collected from hanging out sail canvases, and stored in iron tanks or casks milk came from a nearby farm. Fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
continues on the Bay, but today only two fishing licences belong to descendants of these early pioneer settlers. The last remaining shack on the Bend was demolished in 1970, to make way for Webb Dock. The new Surf Life Saving Club
Surf Life Saving Club
Surf Life Saving Clubs are volunteer institutions at Australia's beaches. The clubs conduct surf lifesaving services on weekends and public holidays and host many beach sport activities, such as Nippers, surf carnivals and other competitions...
headquarters stand on the site. (Meiers 2006)
The neighbourhood of Fishermans Bend also has a significant place in Australian aviation history, being the home of several prominent historical Australian aircraft design and manufacturing companies including the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation
Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation
The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation was an Australian aircraft manufacturer. The CAC was established in 1936, to provide Australia with the capability to produce military aircraft and engines.-History:...
, General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
Holden
Holden
GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...
, Smorgon Steel
Smorgon Steel
Smorgon Steel was an Australian steel manufacturing business established in the 1980s by the Smorgon family of Melbourne. The chairman of the company board was Graham Smorgon....
, Government Aircraft Factories
Government Aircraft Factories
Government Aircraft Factories was the name of an aircraft manufacturer owned by the Government of Australia based at Fishermans Bend, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. It had its origins in the lead-up to World War II, during which it was known as the Department of Aircraft Production...
, the Aeronautical Research Laboratory
Defence Science and Technology Organisation
The Defence Science and Technology Organisation is a branch of the Australian Department of Defence which researches and develops technologies for use in the Australian defence industry....
and regional facilities for Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
.
Fishermans Bend is a primarily industrial centre at the foot of the Westgate Bridge, and contains major establishments for the Defence Science and Technology Organisation
Defence Science and Technology Organisation
The Defence Science and Technology Organisation is a branch of the Australian Department of Defence which researches and develops technologies for use in the Australian defence industry....
, Holden Australia, Hawker de Havilland, GKN Aerospace Engineering Services, the Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures
Cooperative Research Centre
Cooperative Research Centres are key bodies for Australian scientific research. The Cooperative Research Centres Program was established in 1990 to enhance Australia's industrial, commercial and economic growth through the development of sustained, user-driven, cooperative public-private research...
, Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
, Toyota Australia
Toyota Australia
Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, or Toyota Australia, is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, which is based in Japan. TMCA markets Toyota products and manages motorsport, advertising and business operations for Toyota Motor Corporation in Australia...
, port security and a campus of RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
.
It also has a marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
known as d'Albora Marinas Pier 35, and several container ship
Container ship
Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...
ports.
Fishermans Bend has a single large reserve known as Westgate Park, a large natural wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
.
External links
- The Australian National Aviation Museum
- Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society
- Melbourne Port Phillip Council
- Australian Places - Port Melbourne
Further reading
- The Pier Donkeys of Victoria Eardley, G.H. Australian Railway Historical Society BulletinAustralian Railway HistoryAustralian Railway History , is the premier magazine covering railway history in Australia...
, March, 1965