Carved into the wharves of the Southbank Maritime Precinct can be seen remnant port infrastructure in the form of wet docks and dry docks which were essential to maintain and repair ships. Docks work was undertaken on an industrial scale all along the south bank of the Birrarung/Yarra and eventually far downstream.

Wet docks allowed ships to turn out of the river current and float passively awaiting various works being carried out. Downstream of the Merchant Memorial, carved out of the riverbank and lined with bluestones, you will see the unmarked remains of a wet dock.

A dry dock is a narrow enclosure that can be flooded to allow a ship to be floated in, then drained to allow the vessel to come to rest on a dry cradle, leaving the hull free for construction, inspection, maintenance, or repair. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks removed the water manually with buckets but in Melbourne, immense steam-driven pumps expelled the water back into the river.

Melbourne Harbour Trust owned the docks on the Birrarung/Yarra and leased them out to commercial operators. During the 1870s lease holders changed frequently. The northernmost dock on the south bank was built in 1868 and originally known as Wright & Orr Dry Dock. Its powerful pump, commissioned from Birmingham Boilers (UK), was the largest centrifugal pump in the southern hemisphere. This pump and related machinery adjacent to the dry dock may be viewed behind glass windows on the ground floor of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). It is maintained by volunteers from Engineering Australia and has signage for more information on how it operated.

River widening works had concluded when Duke’s Dry Dock, adjacent to the Wright & Orr Dry Dock, was constructed in 1875. Since the closure of Wright & Orrs Dry Dock in 1930, Duke’s Dry Dock assumed sole responsibility of all dry-docking operations on the Birrarung/Yarra. Duke’s & Orr’s Dry Dock is state heritage listed as one of the few surviving relics of a once extensive ship building and repair industry that extended along the Birrarung/Yarra. At the time of its closure in August 1975, Duke’s & Orr’s Dry Dock was the oldest and longest operating privately-owned dry dock in Victoria, having been in almost continuous operation for 100 years.

During its heyday during WW2 seventy-four ships were docked at Duke’s Dry Dock within one year. However, challenges for the Dock continued in the form of severe flood damage in 1923 and finally access by ships was prohibited in 1978 with the construction of Charles Grimes Bridge. Today, Duke & Orr’s Dry Docks is filled with of water, the permanent berth of the Polly Woodside adjacent to the Melbourne Convention Centre housing the pump machinery.

Another dry dock for the refit and repair of ships was Hughes & Sinnott’s Dock, excavated in 1868. It was the source of some dispute when efforts were made to widen the Yarra around it in 1878 and there was a virtual battle between the dock owners and the Harbour Trust.

Docking of large ships in the dry docks on Southbank might see their bowsprits hanging over Normanby Road. The largest ship to be docked here was 10,000-ton Commissaire Ramel in 1931 and the longest the 500-feet (152-m) City of Dieppe in 1947.

Dry docks on the Birrarung/Yarra were essential to sustaining maritime trade involving maintenance, repairs, and re-purposing hundreds of ships. These ships served in time of war, or transported thousands of immigrants and tonnes of cargo, reminding us of the crucial importance of these dry docks in Melbourne’s maritime history.

FURTHER READING

• A.E. Woodley and Bob Botterill, Duke’s & Orr’s Dry Dock, Melbourne Maritime Museum and National Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1985

• Colin Jones, Southbank, https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01612b.htm

IMAGE CREDITS
Image 1: Map, 1876, Public Record Office Victoria, https://mapwarper.prov.vic.gov.au/maps/7339
Image 2: Duke & Orr Dry Dock, photographer unknown, c.1900, University of Melbourne Archives