These extensive wooden piles, which once supported the Victoria Dock wharves, range along much of Harbour Esplanade. The White Cap piles are indicative of just how extensive the Victoria Docks wharf infrastructure was in its heyday. Wharves and sheds literally sat on the vast expanse of piles before they became redundant and were abandoned in the 1970s, demolished in the 1990s. 

These wooden piles also reflect a nineteenth-century engineering wrangle between foreign and local design expertise. The British civil engineer Sir John Coode and Melbourne Harbour Trust engineer Joseph Brady disagreed on whether to use concrete or local timbers for the wharves in Victoria Port. Cost was an obvious consideration. A decision was made to use local timber which had been trialled at Williamstown in the 1880s. A range of timbers were brought in by sea: karri from Western Australia, turpentine from New South Wales, and later from East Gippsland yellow stringy bark, yellow box, grey box, Gippsland blue gum and iron bark.

The expanse of wooden piles now forms ‘Whitecaps’ is #17 in the Docklands Public Art Walk. The Art Walk covers 36 outdoor artworks situated in Docklands parks, promenades and built into the architecture and landscape. The iconic ‘Cow Up A Tree’ #13 is located near ‘Whitecaps’, while other the Docklands artworks, #37 ‘The River Runs Through It’, and #38 ‘Webb Bridge’, are featured in Walk 1: Northbank Maritime Heritage Trail. Many of the artworks reference the sea and water and two which specifically reference our maritime heritage are #20 ‘Anchor’, which pays a tribute to the maritime crafts of the past, specifically decorative rope work, and #31 ‘Blowhole’, which is located close to a treed area which features rowing boats on a dry watercourse. A large brass bell, reflective of a ship’s bell, is an integral element of #22 ‘Civil Twilight End’, located on the corner of Bourke and Village Streets while #29 ‘Reed Vessel’ references marine archaeology and the once abundant foods that Aboriginal people harvested from this former tidal wetland.

FURTHER READING

• https://www.docklandsnews.com.au/tracing-the-history-of-the-docks_11811/
• https://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/docklands-public-art-walk-central-melbourne

IMAGE CREDITS
Image 1: ‘Whitecaps’, photographer Jeff Malley 2022
Image 2: ‘Cow Up A Tree‘, alongside queue for the ferry service, photographer Jeff Malley 2024