Now a favourite fishing spot, like many assets of port infrastructure in Melbourne, there have been at least three construction phases for Australian Wharf.

During the early 1800s burgeoning maritime trade on the Birrarung/Yarra led to the demand for additional wharves, in 1855, the Australian Wharf (North) was constructed along the north bank and was very important for the Melbourne Gas and Coke Company which built a small dock in this location for the delivery of coal to the Melbourne Gas Works located on this site. Governor Charles Hotham opened the Gas Works in 1855 but caught a chill in the rain and died soon after.

However, the wharf became redundant in 1870 when the compony constructed a purpose-built wharf served by a tramway and special bucket cranes to efficiently transfer coal from cargo steamers. In 1882 when river-widening works disrupted access, and the Australian Wharf was removed and replaced in 1910 on adjoining railway land at the entrance of Victoria Dock.

In 1889 Melbourne became the fourth city in the world to have a public hydraulic power system to provide power for, among other uses, cranes, joists, goods, and passenger lifts. A substantial steam pumping station at the Australian Wharf supplied water to cast-iron beans installed beneath the streets of Melbourne. The Melbourne Hydraulic Power company was floated in 1887 by Coates & Co; the company prospered and by the end of 1889 seventy lifts were connected to the system. The hydraulic power system was compulsorily acquired by the Melbourne City Council in 1925, by which time 600 applicated had been connected. In 1928 the Council replaced the steam pumping plant with electrically driven pumps at its Spencer Street power station and continued to operate the service until 1967.

Several Indigenous references can be found on this wharf: Creating the River plaque on an adjacent building tells the Wurundjeri dreamtime story of the formation of the river. As you reach the end of Australian Wharf, take time to appreciate The River Runs Through It sculpture. Created by Mark Stoner and completed in 2011 this evocative work references the natural forces of Birrarung/Yarra and the alluvial mud plain that was once here. 

FURTHER READING

• https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/the-river-runs-through-it/
• Owen Peake, Discover Engineering Heritage: Central Melbourne, Engineers Australia, 2012

IMAGE CREDITS
1. Australian Wharf, photographer Liz Rushen, 2024
2. Part of The River Flows Through It, Mark Stoner 2011, photographer Jeff Malley, 2022

STOP 19  >

North Wharf