Yarra River Ride 2017Produced at St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne by Mr Michael Bigg

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Yarra River Ride – Notes for Adults

Table of ContentsIntroduction....................................................................................................................................................... 2

How to use this document............................................................................................................................ 2Warnings and advice before you start..........................................................................................................2

Some background on the river.......................................................................................................................... 3The Tale of How the River Came to Be........................................................................................................3

The Ride........................................................................................................................................................... 4Overview Map............................................................................................................................................... 4Points of Interest........................................................................................................................................... 5

Start – Princes Walk Vaults (North Bank).................................................................................................5Flinders Street Station.............................................................................................................................. 5The Evan Walker Bridge........................................................................................................................... 5Banana Alley – North Bank....................................................................................................................... 6Sandridge Bridge - Southbank.................................................................................................................. 6Queen’s Bridge......................................................................................................................................... 7The Turning Basin – North bank...............................................................................................................7The Yellow Peril – North Bank.................................................................................................................. 8Jim Stynes’ Bridge.................................................................................................................................... 8Charles Grimes Bridge............................................................................................................................. 9Webb Bridge............................................................................................................................................. 9Polly Woodside....................................................................................................................................... 10Princes Bridge – Southbank...................................................................................................................10

Things to Spot............................................................................................................................................. 11Litter Traps.............................................................................................................................................. 11Black Swans........................................................................................................................................... 11A Helipad................................................................................................................................................ 11

Images............................................................................................................................................................ 12Image 1 – Plan of the Princes Bridge Vaults..............................................................................................12Image 2 – View of the Southbank (1983)....................................................................................................13Image 3 – Banana Alley (c. 1910)...............................................................................................................14Image 4 – Viaduct Proposal (1879)............................................................................................................15Image 5 – Unloading bananas (1899).........................................................................................................15Image 6 – Melbourne in 1855.....................................................................................................................16Image 7 – Falls Bridge construction............................................................................................................17Image 8 – The Turning Basin (1837)..........................................................................................................18Image 9 – The Turning Basin (1844)..........................................................................................................19Image 10 – The Yellow Peril.......................................................................................................................20Image 11 – Charles Grimes Bridge (1998).................................................................................................21Image 12 – Polly Woodside (Rona) in 1921...............................................................................................22Image 13 – Princes Bridge opening in 1850...............................................................................................23Image 14 – Princes Bridge decorated for Prince Alfred in 1867.................................................................24

Credits............................................................................................................................................................ 25

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IntroductionThis resource has been developed in partnership between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Yarra Riverkeepers Association. The idea is that you take a group of children on a cycle tour from the “Vaults” underneath Princes Bridge in a loop towards the Docklands. The tour will enable the children to find out something about the history of the river and its significance and importance for Melbourne.

The route given is approximately 6.5km in length and (with a break for drinks and snacks) should take between 2-3 hours, with further discussion suggested at the end. The information and activities are aimed at children around 8-9 years old but could easily be adapted to older or younger children as needed.

Much of the learning is around the social significance, history and human geography of the river, although you might want to develop things in other directions.

How to use this documentThis is an information document for parents and teachers. It is intended to help you to plan the trip and to give you information to facilitate the exploration of the children in your care. It is NOT intended to be a prescriptive how-to guide. You are encouraged to make use of the parts you find interesting and ignore bits that you don’t.

For this reason there is no “Children’s Pack” supplied. The information given for each point of interest will include possible questions and activities to do. You are welcome to copy & paste anything from this document into a handout you create yourself. All of the images used are from the State Library of Victoria and you are entitled to copy and print them if needed. Having said all of that, it is suggested that for the ride itself you don’t burden the children with sheets of paper and clipboards (which may well be destroyed in all the putting-in and taking-out of bags). You may find it a better experience to discuss points as you go along and make use of a few laminated images. Perhaps you could nominate a photographer in the group to take photos that can be used for discussion or further activity after the ride has finished.

A map is provided on page X which marks the route and points of interest along it. For each PoI there is a corresponding section of information later in the document to give background, suggest activities and provoke thinking. We hope this will all be fairly self-explanatory. Some points must be viewed from the North Bank, others from the South, some from either (as shown in the notes).

Warnings and advice before you startA few things to consider before setting out:

Victoria State Law requires that all people on a bicycle should wear an appropriate helmet There are significant sections of the ride during which there is no fence or barrier between

you and the river. All people participation should be competent cyclists and any risk assessment carried out ought to plan for the possibility that a member of the party might get closer to the water than planned.

Before you begin children need to be briefed on the following:o At various points your group will have to cross potentially busy sections of road (all

of which have appropriate crossing points).o Throughout the journey the path will be shared with pedestrians who may not be

expecting a group of cyclists

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Some background on the riverThe Yarra is absolutely essential to being able to live in Melbourne. It provides the vast majority of the city’s drinking water in the 9 reservoirs that it fills. Where we usually see the river it looks very muddy, but upstream it is clear. It’s not that the river is dirty, but that decades of rapid development around the river in the 1880s onwards cause the silt to be carried at the top of the flow, rather than at the bottom where it usually goes (some people call it the “upside down” river).

The amount of use the river gets means that water quality is a concern. Since Europeans started to build here waste has been dumped in the river and there is an ongoing effort to ensure that unwanted things don’t end up here. Things are much cleaner now than they once were and the lower river is now home to Platypus again.

Huge efforts were made in the 1970s to create better sewers for industrial and household waste. There was also much investment in improved storm drains to avoid rainwater from the city running straight into the river. This can be a problem because litter or chemicals from the streets and buildings can be washed straight into the river.

There are concerns that the Yarra now flows too slowly because so much water is taken by the city for its use. The Yarra River-keepers Association is trying to ensure that the flow of the river is kept to at least 2/3 of the natural flow rate in order to keep the river healthy. They are trying to do this by encouraging initiatives to preserve water and by helping people to make better use of rainwater (for example, in Federation Square the toilets use rain water to flush instead of water from the main supply).

The name “Yarra” comes from the Wurundjeri name “Yarro-yarro” (meaning “it flows”). An early European visitor misheard what was said and named the river Yarra instead and the name stuck.

The Tale of How the River Came to BeOne day two boys were playing in the bush, throwing their toy spears at whatever bird they saw. After a while they tired of this game and, sighting an old wattle tree, went up to it in the hope of finding some wattle gum, of which they were very fond. They saw some gum on a bough fairly high up, and one of the boys climbed the tree and reached it. He began to throw the gum down to the other boy, who was waiting for it underneath the tree. But when the lumps of gum reached the ground they disappeared, and the boy who had remained below could not find them. At last he noticed a hole, and thinking that the gum may have rolled down, he poked the end of his little spear in it.

As soon as he did this, a deep growling voice was heard and the ground seemed to shake. An old man, who had been sleeping underground with his mouth open, suddenly made his appearance. He picked up the frightened boy and shuffled off, dragging his feet, because he was old and the boy was heavy to carry.

As the old man huddled along he made a furrow, which deepened into a gutter, then into a creek, and lastly became the Yarra River. All this time the little boy was crying with fright. At last Bunjil heard him. He put sharp stones in the path of the old man over which he fell, and cut himself into pieces. The boy ran off to his home.

Just before the old man died, Bunjil appeared, and said to him "Let this be a lesson to all old men. Thy must be good to little children."

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The Ride

Overview Map

Key:

Red line = Suggested route

= Point of Interest= Toilet

Scale: To give you an idea, the distance between the “Flinders Street Station” and the “Banana Alley” is appro-x. 400m

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Points of Interest

Start – Princes Walk Vaults (North Bank)The Vaults were constructed in 1888-9, coinciding with the new Princes Bridge (see separate PoI). As part of the new bridge project the river had been widened to deal with flooding, and where Federation Square now stands, Batman Avenue was diverted to run along the riverbank up to St Kilda Road, above where the vaults now stand (see image 1). The vaults were created under Batman Avenue to support the new road/rail, but they were also envisaged as a place to create space for small businesses and bars (much like they are now).

Unfortunately, until 2003 (when the ownership of the vaults was transferred to the Federation Square Management) the space had been seen as a bit unsafe and became run down. Since 2003 the area has been renovated and is now used as originally intended.

Things to look out for:

What can you see that’s similar to Princes Street Bridge itself? The Vaults were designed to match the bridge – why might this matter?

Why might this area have fallen out of favour with customers of cafes and those going on boat trips? (Which direction does the sunshine come from?)

Flinders Street StationOther than the architectural interest, it’s worth noting that the station (and railway) is one linear feature that lies alongside another (the river). With the relationship between the river and all of the goods that were imported along it, here was an obvious place to put a railway station. The corner of Flinders Street and Swanston Street is now one of the busiest public transport intersections in the entire southern hemisphere.

It’s also handy to build railway on otherwise “waste” land next to the river. No-one particularly wants to live immediately next to the river so a railway station is a good thing to have here.

To think about:

Why has this area become such a busy transport intersection? How else might the space right next to the river be used?

The Evan Walker BridgeOriginally (and uninspiringly) known as the Southbank Pedestrian Bridge, the Evan Walker Bridge was completed in 1992 and provides an easy way for pedestrians to get across the Yarra from the Southbank to the CBD. It was renamed last year, in honour of Evan Walker who was Planning Minister in the 1980-90s. Mr Walker is credited with transforming the Southbank from “a mess of old factories… a bit of an industrial wasteland” into the thriving precinct it is today. The area south of the river had been quite separated from the CBD (see Image 2) before the area was regenerated.

The bridge won awards for its design, but some find it unnecessarily strange. It is home to Ponyfish Island (underneath the south pylon), named after the fabled “Pony fish” that some early explorers claim to have glimpsed. Until 2015 the bridge was also known as “Love’s Lock Bridge” because thousands of couples had attached padlocks with their names to the wires going across. However, all of the padlocks were removed by the council in May 2015 because the weight of all the padlocks was causing the wires to become unsafe.

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To think about:

There are lots of bridges over the Yarra. Why is it important to have so many? (There’s one newer footbridge, Seafarers Bridge, which you’ll pass later on)

To what extent is the river a help in the life of a city and to what extent is it a hindrance? What might it have been like to be an explorer spotting all sorts of new animals (like

Ponyfish)? How should we decide the names of bridges and other public spaces?

Banana Alley – North BankThe vaults along banana alley under Flinders Street Station were first built in 1891-92. Originally known as the “Viaduct Buildings”, they became known as “Banana Alley” because many of the vaults were used for storing and ripening bananas from Queensland before going on to sale. (The bananas often brought other treats in the shape of rats, spiders and even snakes that stowed away with the fruit).

Their use for storing fruit waned after the construction of Spencer Street Bridge in 1930 (see image 3 and note the large ship that could never get to the turning basin now). A variety of uses have been made of the area since the 1930s. Hearns Hobbies started life in one of the vaults in 1946, and there was also a 24 hour pie shop from the 1950s. However, the area was neglected and many vaults became unoccupied and were instead used by the homeless for shelter. In 1987 the State Government refurbished the vaults in an attempt to regenerate the north bank. They are now home to a 24 hour gym, a martial arts studio, hairdressers, bars and a club. Through some of the windows you can still glimpse Flinders Street at the other end.

The vaults may not have been created at all. There was originally a proposal to create a much more open viaduct with free movement between Flinders Street and the Yarra (see image 4). The structure seen today was planned in 1888 to cost around £73,000 (roughly $15 million) and was primarily there to improve traffic flow.

To consider:

Why has the river (and its usage) changed this area so much? Today this part of town feels a bit neglected again. What could be done to improve it? Is it a good thing that large boats carrying goods no longer come so far up the river? Why?

Sandridge Bridge - SouthbankThe first Sandridge Bridge was put on this site in 1853 and was part of the line from Flinders Street to Port Melbourne. This was the first passenger line in Australia and carried all of the people coming into the new city from the coast into the centre. It originally crossed the river at roughly right angles, but when the bridge was replaced by a two-track wooden trestle bridge in 1857 the angle seen today was used instead to avoid having a really sharp corner coming out of Flinders Street Station (see Image 6).

The bridge you see today opened its 4 railway tracks in 1888. It was one of the first bridges to use steel instead of iron and a young John Monash was involved in the construction. It was actively used for almost 100 years until 1987, when the tram ways became more commonly used. After 1987 the bridge fell into disrepair until 2003.

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In 2003 the City of Melbourne moved to redevelop the bridge and commissioned the artist to create the 10 abstract sculptures that now move along the bridge. These represent the different kinds of immigrants who might have used the bridge to come into Melbourne. The only sculpture not on the bridge is the first, representing the indigenous peoples of Australia. Glass panels also include information about all of the different countries from which migrants have come to Melbourne.

To think about:

Why is it important remember and acknowledge all of the different kinds of people who have settled here?

Compare Image 6 to what you see today. How has Melbourne changed? Do you like the sculptures? Why? Why not? Make a sketch of your favourite. How sharp a corner can a train easily navigate?

Queen’s BridgeOn this site there was, originally a wooden footbridge (built in 1860) called Falls Bridge. If you look at Image 6 you can see a clue a little to the left of Sandridge Bridge explaining why the original bridge was so called (see image 7 for Falls Bridge).

The little natural barrier was the spot at which John Batman originally decided to start a settlement. It was crucial because it was at this point that the fresh water of the river met the salt water of the sea (the lack of fresh water had spelled disaster for other fledgling settlements). It was also one of the only places the river could be easily crossed without a bridge. The Falls were destroyed by dynamite in around 1885 in order to avoid problems that the early city was having with flooding. It also made space for the bridge we see today. This had been a recognisable place for indigenous tribes to meet but this soon stopped as Melbourne quickly developed.

The current Queens Bridge was named after Queen Victoria and built in 1889. It was constructed by David Munro, who also made Sandridge Bridge and Princes Bridge. The bridge itself is unusually low, and this is supposed to represent the river because the river itself has little rise or fall.

To think about:

Why did John Batman think this spot was so good for a new settlement? Is it OK for humans to deliberately change the way a river flows for our own benefit?

The Turning Basin – North bankThe little area to the west of Queens Bridge is part of the river that naturally widened and deepened because of the falls. While the falls were still there this spot was the furthest point large ships could come up-river and so was a natural point for the loading and unloading of goods. Wharves and a customs house were built very early in the settlement. The customs house is now the immigration museum that you can just about see behind you.

Over the years the Turning Basin was gradually widened and deepened so that more and bigger vessels could unload their goods. As the city grew it became less desirable for large ships to unload their goods so close to the centre so ports started emerging downstream. Low bridges built downstream eventually made it impossible for ships to get to the Turning Basin. In the 1990s the area was renovated and Enterprize Park was created, named after John Pascoe Fawkner’s boat that had landed here in 1935.

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To think about:

Compare images 8 and 9. What changed between 1837 and 1844? What’s different now? Why might people have moved the docks further downstream as Melbourne grew?

The Yellow Peril – North BankThe infamous “Yellow Peril” stood here for 20 years (it’s now close by at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art). It was a piece of public art (officially called “Vault”) that was installed in City Square in 1980 (see image 10). The art is abstract and minimalist and caused controversy before it was even built (the Queen is reported to have asked if it could be painted “a more agreeable colour”). It instantly provoked public outcry at the ugliness and cost ($70,000) and by December 1980 it had been removed.

Yellow Peril was re-assembled in Batman Park, slightly away from the public gaze, and here it languished for 20 years. The work was neglected and used as shelter by the homeless for some time. It was restored in 2002 and moved to its present home.

Many criticised the work for being a meaningless lump of (expensive) metal. Others thought it was a valuable dash of colour in Melbourne’s grey cityscape. Either way, it paved the way for much of the contemporary abstract art we see around the city today and, ironically, outlasted the City Square for which it was designed.

To think about:

Do you like it? Why do you think people hated it so much? Why do you think the Council moved it here? Do you like all of the abstract art around Melbourne today?

Jim Stynes’ BridgeThis is a very unusual bridge, primarily because it is one of the few bridges in the world that has both ends on the same side of the river. It is part of the continuing story of “connecting” Melbourne because it provides a vital pedestrian link between the CBD and the Docklands. It is cleverly constructed to give the appearance of floating over the river and only touches the existing riverbank in two places. This has the benefit of limiting the impact of the bridge on the river and the bank.

The bridge is named after Jim Stynes, a prominent Melbourne AFL player in the 1980-90s. He died at the age of just 45 in 2012 and the bridge was opened two years later in his honour. Jim Stynes was born in Ireland and migrated to Melbourne on an AFL scholarship at the age of just 16.

When it was opened, Stynes’ wife commented that Jim had always seen life as a “journey” and so a bridge going from one place to another was a fitting tribute to him.

To think about:

What kind of a “journey” has this river been on? Are you on a “journey”? Where do you hope to go? Why did the architects think it was important that the bridge didn’t have too much impact

on the river?

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Charles Grimes BridgeThe low bridge originally built here in 1975 brought an end to ships bringing goods further upstream (see Image 11). It was originally a simple bridge connecting north and south of the river around the docklands. It was rebuilt in 1999 (opening in 2001) in the current format to connect with the newly built Wurundjeri Way.

The bridge is named after Charles Grimes (1772-1858), Surveyor General of NSW. He was the first European to map this area in February 1803. His vessel made it all the way up for Dights Falls in Abbotsford before having to turn back. He found the river at a particularly dry time of year and, for that reason, wrote that he didn’t recommend a settlement here. Another person in his group (James Flemming) noted that the plants looked extremely well-watered and so concluded that the place wasn’t as dry as Grimes thought.

To think about:

Compare Image 11 to what you see today (Southbank is in the bottom left corner) Why was Grimes so concerned about starting a settlement in the area?

Webb BridgeMost of what you see now was the original Webb Bridge, which opened in 1986 as a railway bridge connecting the Docklands to the rest of Melbourne’s rail network south of the river. However, for reasons that aren’t clear the railway line was closed just 6 years later.

In 2000, as the Southbank was being redeveloped the decommissioned railway bridge was modified to provide a new pedestrian bridge. The straight section is pretty much the same as it was originally (other than the new decking). However, at the Southbank end the unusual design links the old bridge down to the Southbank promenade. The new section is intended to look like a Koori eel trap, and may be a play on words (Webb/web). The architects said that it represented a “knot” binding the old railway to the new Southbank development; linking Melbourne’s past and present.

To think about:

Do you think this is a good use of an old bridge? Why might it be important to re-use things where possible? Do you get a sense of linking old and new when travelling through the “knot” section?

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Polly WoodsideThis boat was built in Ireland in 1885 and named after the wife of the owner of the company who made her. She sailed between Britain and South America 16 times in the late nineteenth century, before being sold to a merchant in New Zealand in 1904 in order to cross between Australia and NZ carrying all sorts of goods.

By the end of the First World War, sail boats were giving way to steam and so Polly Woodside was converted into a coal hulk. Her insides were stripped out and she was towed behind a steam vessel to carry supplies of coal to keep the steamer going. During the Second World War she continued her hulking duties in the Navy, carrying all sorts of goods. After the war she resumed coal hulking and by the 1960s she was the last of her kind still afloat.

Over several decades she was lovingly restored to her original state and in 1988 she was awarded the World Ship Trust’s “Maritime Heritage Award”. She first arrived on the Yarra in 1978 and since 2010 she has sat here at Orr’s Dry Dock and is on the Victorian Heritage Register. It is estimated that she covered 1.5 million miles in her lifetime.

To think about:

Why do people worry about preserving these kinds of boats? Is it worthwhile? Do you know what a “dry dock” is? Why might it be important? Based on what you’ve learned, how has this part of the river changed since Polly Woodside

arrived in 1978? Compare her new to how she was in 1921 (when she was called “Rona” – see Image 12)

Princes Bridge – SouthbankBefore Princes Bridge was built a punt service operated near here to ferry passengers across the Yarra from about 1838. Then in 1840, the Melbourne Bridge Co. began building a timber toll bridge near here, for which they charged those crossing a small fee, which opened in 1845. It wasn’t until 1850 that the first permanent bridge was built here over the Yarra. It was a single span across the river (see Image 13) and was, at the time, the longest spanning bridge in Australia.

The old bridge was lavishly decorated in 1867 to welcome Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (son of Queen Victoria) to Melbourne – see image 14. (The Prince was shot later in the trip while in Sydney, but recovered fully).

Just a year after the bridge was opened gold was discovered in Victoria and within a few years Melbourne had grown dramatically and there was a need for the river to be widened to help with flooding issues (and to enable bigger ships to travel upriver). Therefore, in 1888 the old bridge was replaced with the one we see today.

To think about:

How might widening the river help with flooding? Is there a limit to how much we can build around rivers? South of the Yarra used to be a “flood plain”. Lots of modifications needed to be made to

the river to stop flooding. Can we “use” the river however we like?

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Things to Spot

Litter TrapsHow many litter traps can you spot as you cycle along the river bank? Can you see how they work? Is there much litter in them? Where does all the litter come from?

Black SwansThese were a huge surprise to the first visitors to the area. Previously people thought that all swans were white! If you spot a black swan, please make a note of where you were and if you can see a number on its neck remember that too. You can report your sighting online and upload a photo.

www.myswan.org.au

A HelipadThere is one on the river as you go along. Can you spot it?

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Images

Image 1 – Plan of the Princes Bridge Vaults

Sourced from http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/809

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Image 2 – View of the Southbank (1983)© Laurie Thomas and SLV

See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/137404

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Image 3 – Banana Alley (c. 1910)Work out of copyright. See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/145719

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Image 4 – Viaduct Proposal (1879)

Image 5 – Unloading bananas (1899)(see http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/47957 )

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Image 6 – Melbourne in 1855

See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/106370

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Image 7 – Falls Bridge construction

See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/236587

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Image 8 – The Turning Basin (1837)See http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134644646

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Image 9 – The Turning Basin (1844)Taken from https://overland.org.au/2012/07/melbourne-from-the-falls/

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Image 10 – The Yellow PerilFrom http://melbournedaily.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/yellow-peril.html

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Image 11 – Charles Grimes Bridge (1998)See http://www.panoramio.com/photo/36964682

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Image 12 – Polly Woodside (Rona) in 1921See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/11834

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Image 13 – Princes Bridge opening in 1850See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/116248

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Image 14 – Princes Bridge decorated for Prince Alfred in 1867See http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/358945

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CreditsHuge thanks go to the Yarra Riverkeeper, Andrew Kelly (www.yarrariver.org.au) for his advice on what to look at.

Acknowledgement and thanks to the State of Victoria Library (www.slv.vic.gov.au) for access to so many helpful images of the Yarra and its surroundings from years gone by.

Technical thanks to the “OSMTracker for Android” app for tracking the ride, and to www.gpsvisualizer.com for overlaying the ride onto Google Maps.

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