Several marinas can be seen along NewQuay Promenade: NewQuay Marina, which has 48 berths for vessels under 12m; Melbourne City Marina, which has 23 short term berths and is managed by the Waterways Branch of the City of Melbourne, and Melbourne Superyacht Marina which hosts vessels up to 65m in length.

Melbourne’s waterways extend over 25,000 kilometres and include rivers, creeks, and wetlands. The waterways flowing through the City of Melbourne include the Birrarung/Yarra River, Mirrangbmum/Maribyrnong River, and Moonee Moonee/Moonee Ponds Creek. These rivers and the creek are of deep cultural, social, economic, and environmental importance for Indigenous people. They have faced many challenges due to the impacts of European settlement, population growth and climate change. Today, these waterways are managed by multiple stakeholders. The City of Melbourne manages the extensive waterfront open spaces, waterway operations in Victoria Harbour and along the banks of the Birrarung/Yarra.

Towards the end of NewQuay Promenade, you will pass Pearl River Road, thought to the route of the former Railway Coal Canal (now drained). The canal was one of the first of many beneficial waterways projects in Docklands. The three-kilometre Railway Coal Canal was first mentioned officially in the Victorian Low Lands Commission Progress (LCPP) Report of 1873 on Melbourne’s wetlands, but work did not commence until 1889 around the same time as the Coode Canal works. During the construction period the purpose of the canal evolved from an initial design for flood mitigation to redirect water out of the river, away from the salt water lake in the wetlands (West Melbourne Swamp) to dry the land sufficiently to allow the area to be developed. By the time the canal was completed, another valuable purpose emerged. It provided direct access from the Birrarung/Yarra to carry coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, to the rapidly expanding Melbourne Yard of the Victorian Railways, to Spencer Street Power Station and to steam-powered ships in the dock.

The route of the Railway Coal Canal ran in a north-west direction and entered the waterways part way along what is now NewQuay. The immensely deep soft silt which had accumulated over eons in the Birrarung/Yarra flood plains and wetlands, made for easy canal excavation. Tributaries such as the Mirrangbmum/Maribyrnong River and Moonee Moonee/Moonee Ponds Creek formed and re-formed as intermittent swamps. The canal route was designed to avoid tidal ebbs from flooding upstream and ensured that the river would discharge into the river mouth, scouring the bay and reducing silt deposition. Eventually, the excavated silt settled and by 1909 plans to ‘reclaim’ this area so close to the CBD were started.

NewQuay promenade ends in a detour inland while awaiting re-development by the developer (MAB) assigned responsibility for this part of Docklands Precinct. They plan to complete the last remaining tower along NewQuay, before re-instating the wharf and promenade which will be an extension of the NewQuay promenade – and may add further berthing opportunities along this much-neglected waterway.

FURTHER READING

• David Sornig, Blue Lake, Scribe Publications 2018
• https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/maribyrnong-waterfront-way-forward
• https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/our-waterways#yarra
• https://www.newquay.com.au
• https://mmhn.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MMHN-Opportunity-3-Victoria-Harbour.pdf
• https://braggaboutlife.wordpress.com/2017/12/30/melbourne-railway-coal-canal/#:~:text=The%20one%20mile%20long%20Railway,with%20two%20functions%20in%20mind

IMAGE CREDIT
A marina along NewQuay Promenade, photographer Jeff Malley 2022