Victoria Harbour Heritage Trail

STOP 1
Shipping Control Tower

Location: Victoria Harbour Promenade, at the former Shipping Control Tower
Former Shipping Control Tower, 2022

In 1934 a timber octagonal watch tower was erected on North Wharf, replaced in the 1960s by the technologically cutting-edge Shipping Control Tower we see today. Port expansion and increased shipping brought greater operational complexity. The tower co-ordinated movements of shipping in the port, including towage pilots and emergency services along the Birrarung/Yarra, Victoria Harbour, the estuary and into Port Phillip Bay. Closed in 1980, the tower embodies the optimism of the tremendous ever-expanding Victoria Port (now Victoria Harbour), which was so long the engine room of the entire Victorian economy. Today the tower reminds us of Melbourne’s historic status as a major port city.

Architect C.J Smith designed and delivered a building consisting of reinforced concrete and providing a lift and stairs to reach the top two decks –a control room for observation duties containing radar and communication equipment, and other amenities for its five-person, 24/7 operations; a significant improvement from the original timber watch tower.

A flag pole and ‘crows nest’ sit atop the tower to enable signals to be used in the case of electronics failure. It was sited specifically to enable close monitoring of shipping movements in the Bay, Station Pier, and the dock upstream. Shipping news was front-of-mind for the public and the tower provided important information on ships, commodities, and seafarers via an automated telephone service. This public shipping information service was immensely popular with 116,995 calls taken in the first year.

Today work is underway to halt the degeneration of this significant maritime port infrastructure. In 2025 the Shipping Control Tower underwent external stabilisation and restoration works. State heritage listing has been proposed and is imminent.

FURTHER READING

IMAGE CREDITS
Image 1: Former Shipping Control Tower, photographer Jeff Malley 2022
Image 2: Shipping control tower, with Port of Melbourne hostesses, c.1966, National Archives of Australia

Shipping control tower, with Port of Melbourne hostesses, c.1966