Southbank Trail Introduction | Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network

Southbank Heritage Trail

Introduction

The Boonwurrung (language group) were the traditional owners of the country on the south side of Birrarung/Yarra, extending along the coastline from Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory. The Boonwurrung people are part of the eastern Kulin nation, along with the Wadawurrung, Woiwurrung, Daung Wurrung, and Djadjawurrung. The country of the Boonwurrung people was described by Hewitt in 1840 as:

a strip of country from the mouth of the Werribee River, and including what is new Williamstown and the southern suburbs of Melbourne, belonged to the Bunurong [Boonwurrung] a coast tribe, which occupied the coastline from here round to Hobson’s Bay to Mordialloc, the whole of the Mornington Peninsula and the coast from Westernport Bay to Anderson’s Inlet.

The Boonwurrung have a very strong and detailed oral history that recalled the formation of Port Phillip Bay than 10,000 years ago. The Birrarung/Yarra River once emptied into the sea at the heads and evidence of this ancient river bed can still be detected on the sea floor today. But the Boonwurrung and the other Kulin nations were in conﬂict and it was a time of chaos. The sea became angry and began to flood the low-lying flat plain where Boonwurrung hunted kangaroos and cultivated yam daisy. The people appealed to Bundjil, their creator and spiritual leader, who stopped the flooding of all their lands after they promised to change their ways. The flooding resulted in the formation of Port Phillip Bay, called Nairm or Nerm by the Boonwurrung, with the Birrarung/Yarra delta at its head.

In its natural state, the lower Yarra was a place of great beauty with a diversity of plant, animal, and bird life. With the arrival of Europeans in the nineteenth century, trees were felled, the river straightened, and its banks were lined with dry docks and wharves. The thriving port of Melbourne occupied both river banks upstream as far as Princes Bridge, but incrementally shifted downstream towards the mouth of the river estuary and Nairm/Port Phillip Bay, largely due to the change in development from industrial to commercial and hospitality, and bridge construction across the river.

The Southbank Maritime Heritage Trail highlights the significant maritime heritage along the south bank of the Birrarung/Yarra River and has been devised by the Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network. The trail commences on the river bank near the Botanic Gardens and ends at the foot of the Bolte Bridge. It is approximately 4.5 km and takes an hour. This trail can be combined with the Northbank and Victoria Harbour Trails and any of the trails can be commenced and ended at any point.

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