History of the Yarra River

The Yarra River is a river in southern 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. From its source in the Yarra Ranges, it flows 242km west and winds its way through Greater Melbourne before emptying into Port Phillip. The river was a major food source and meeting place for the Indigenous Australians, the Wurundjeri people until actions by early European settlers such as land clearing in the mid 1800's, forced the Wurundjeri people in neighbouring territories, away from the river.
Originally called Birrarung by the Wurundjeri people, the current name was mistranslated from another Wurundjeri term; Yarra Yarra. After European settlement, throughout the Victorian gold rush, it was mined for gold and in many places its course was modified or disrupted, such as the Pound Bend Tunnel in Warrandyte and Coode Island excavations in West Melbourne, which ultimately led to the destruction of the marshlands at the confluence of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers.
Today, the mouth and lower reaches of the river including Swanston and Appleton Docks are used for container shipping by the Port of Melbourne, the busiest on the continent. To a lesser extent they are used for transport, both for recreational boating and ferries. The city reach which is inaccessible to larger watercraft has seen growing use for both transport and recreational use (including kayaking, canoeing, rowing and swimming) in recent years however recreational use of the river is threatened by high levels of pollution in its lower stretches. The upper reaches remain a relatively healthy ecosystem. Prior to European settlement, the river relied on regular flooding to replenish silts and soils on its banks, however this threatened settlements along the river and Melbourne itself and the Upper Yarra Dam was subsequently constructed.
Human and geographical history
The area surrounding the Yarra River and modern day Melbourne was originally inhabited by various clans of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. It is believed that the area was occupied by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years. The river was an important resource for the Wurundjeri people and several sites along the river and its tributaries were important meeting places where corroborees were held between indigenous communities. The river's resources were utilised sustainably by the Wurundjeri until the advent of early European settlement in the early-mid 1800's.
European discovery and settlement
In 1803, the first Europeans sailed up the river, a surveying party led by Charles Grimes, Acting Surveyor General of New South Wales, sailed upstream to Dights Falls where they could no longer continue due to the nature of the terrain. European explorers would not enter the river for another 30 years until, in 1835, the area that is now central and northern Melbourne was explored by John Batman, a leading member of the Port Phillip Association, who negotiated a transaction for 600,000 acres (2,400 km²) of land from eight Wurundjeri elders. He selected a site on the northern bank of the Yarra River, declaring that "this will be the place for a village".
The river was instrumental in the establishment of Melbourne along its banks from 1835 onwards. The new settlement's main port was sited near Queensbridge, the place where saltwater met freshwater. Ships would use one side of the falls while the other side provided fresh drinking water for the town and a convenient sewer. In the city's early days the Yarra was one of two major ports, the other being Sandridge or Port Melbourne, but the Yarra was preferred due to the direct access to the town's main streets and was the location of Customs House. Early industries grew along the banks of the river, rapidly degrading the water quality until Melbourne's fresh water had to be sourced from elsewhere. Industries then began using the river and tributaries such as Merri Creek as landfill and for harmful chemical dumps for substances like grease and oils.
The first permanent crossing over the river was Princes Bridge, which first opened as a wooden trestle bridge in 1844, the current bridge was constructed in 1888. In the early days, the river would frequently flood. While this was not considered a problem in the floodplains near Yarra Glen and Coldstream, however it caused much trouble further downstream in settlements such as Warrandyte, Templestowe, Bulleen, Heidelberg and Ivanhoe. The Upper Yarra Dam was later constructed to alleviate the flooding, protecting settlements along the river, yet depriving the river banks of soil and silt deposits and causing other problems such as erosion and salinity.
Victorian gold rush
Gold was first discovered in Victoria near the Yarra River in Warrandyte. The find was made by Louis Michel in 1851 at a tributary of the river, Anderson's Creek and marked the start of the Victorian gold rush. The approximate location of the site is marked by a cairn on Fourth Hill in the Warrandyte State Park. The river was drained and diverted in various areas throughout the gold rush to aid gold miners. An example of this is the tunnel at Pound Bend in Warrandyte. The river was partially dammed at Pound Bend near Normans Reserve at its eastern entrance and near Bob's wetlands at its western exit. Miners then blasted a 300m long tunnel through solid rock. The river was then fully dammed at the entrance and exit to the tunnel and water was diverted through 300m and out the other side leaving an astonishing 3.85km of riverbed around Pound Bend exposed to the sun and the miners picks.
The Gold Rush saw increased development in Melbourne and "tent cities" of new migrants lined the Yarra during the early years of the gold rush. In the 1840's a wier was built at Dights Falls to power a flour mill and to give some control over the river downstream from there. From the earliest years of settlment, the mid and upper reaches of the Yarra began to be used for recreation. The river was selected as the site for the Royal Botanic Gardens in 1846 and the course of the river was modified slightly for the creation of a feature lake. Further upstream, the Cremorne Gardens were established in 1853.
Industrialisation
Sections of the river mouth and the area around the former West Melbourne Swamp were widened in the late 1800's, to make way for docks, harbours, bridges and other infrastructure. The increasing industrialisation of the river and the growth of the shipping industry saw the need for major infrastructure works which dramatically changed the course of the river in it's lower reaches. The creation of new shipping channels to cope with the growing use of the Yarra by cargo ships was first tabled in the 1870s.
The first major change game with the cutting of the "Fisherman's Bend" channel between 1880 and 1886. This major infrastructure project created an island which was known as Coode Island, named after the engineer in charge of the excavation and dock construction works, Sir John Coode. This also included widening and deepening, and in some cases, vast areas of land were excavated, such as Victoria Dock, in order to give ease of access for cargo and container ships. Abbitoirs, smelters and even mortuaries were to use the river as a means of waste disposal in it's lower reaches. This industrialisation also led to a steady deterioration in water quality during the 19th century and into the 20th. In 1891, the great flood caused the Yarra to swell to in width.
Initially known as "West Melbourne Dock", over 3 million cubic yards of material was excavated and a new dock was eventually opened in 1892, the material that was removed was subsequently used to fill in part of the West Melbourne Swamp, it took 6 days for water from the Yarra River to fill the dock. The dock was later renamed Victoria Dock. In 1910, the main channel was widened and deepened (81m to 131m). In 1916, the central pier at Victoria Dock was completed which provided 6 additional shipping berths and cargo sheds and creating a distinctive landmark for Melbourne ports. By 1942, 650m of the old course of the Yarra River at Coode Island had been filled in, by the 1950's it had been completely filled and land parcels were allocated including a site for the new Fish Markets.
In 1957, the Upper Yarra Reservoir was constructed, primarily to alleviate flooding downstream. Swanson Dock was constructed between 1966 and 1972 equipped for modern container shipping. Shipping activity at Victoria Dock during this time had gone into steep decline and it was almost disused by the mid 1970s. In February 1972, the CBD was flooded as the natural watercourse of Elizabeth Street became a raging torrent. This was due mostly to previous storm water drainage works which utilised Elizabeth street as a watercourse during times of intense rain creating flash floods. Prior to settlements, the area now occupied by Elizabeth street was a gully off the river.
Recent years
By the 1960s there was a growing awareness of the neglect of the Yarra amongst some residents of Melbourne, spawning various community groups and "friends of..." organisations to protect the remnants of the river's ecology. Through the 1970's and 80's, many desirable developments alongside the river began, such as the Victorian Arts Centre, as it's lower courses progressively became gentrified. Growing high density residential development in the lower reaches in the early 1990s coincided with minor government programs such as the installation of litter traps. The riverside apartment complex Como Centre at South Yarra and the larger urban renewal of the formerly industrial Southbank precinct were both built during the late 90's.
Around 2000, the river became a focus of major government projects. Projects were proposed to connect Flinders Street Station with the river and early proposals for the Melbourne Museum were situated along the south side of the river, however the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex and Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre were built in its place. The Melbourne Docklands urban renewal project began in 2000, comprising mixed use residential and commercial land and recreational boating moors along the river at the disused Victoria Docks and also on the southside of the Yarra. Federation Square was proposed to connect the spine of Melbourne to the Yarra at Federation Wharf and a neighbouring park, Birrarung Marr was also built along the banks. Some suggest this connection between the City and the river could have been made better and many feel that Federation Square was rushed and neglects the river that it sits next to. New ferry services and water taxis sprang up along the city reach, servicing as far up river as South Yarra and as far down river as Williamstown.
In 2008, the Port Phillip Channel Deepening Project began to deepen the mouth of the Yarra to facilitate the entry of larger ships. It was subject to controversy and strict regulations among fears that it could disturb heavy metals and other toxic sediments mostly deposited during the industrial era of Melbourne. Other major pollution problems in Melbourne include levels of bacteria including E-coli in the Yarra River and its tributaries caused by septic systems, as well as up to 350,000 cigarette butts entering the storm water runoff every day.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu