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Swanson Dock

Docks (maritime)Port of MelbourneYarra River
Swanson Dock
Swanson Dock

Swanson Dock is an international shipping facility in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was constructed between 1966 and 1972 by the Melbourne Harbor Trust, leading off the north bank of the Yarra River, to alleviate congestion in the port and provide the first container shipping terminal in Melbourne. It is located about 2 km downstream from the Melbourne CBD and was named after Victor Swanson, chairman of the Melbourne Harbor Trust from 1960 to 1972.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Swanson Dock (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Swanson Dock
Enterprize Road, Melbourne West Melbourne

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Latitude Longitude
N -37.815548 ° E 144.923658 °
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Enterprize Road

Enterprize Road
3003 Melbourne, West Melbourne
Victoria, Australia
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Swanson Dock
Swanson Dock
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Victoria Dock (Melbourne)
Victoria Dock (Melbourne)

Victoria Dock is a large excavated harbour basin located off Footscray Road and Docklands Highway, Docklands, in Melbourne. It was constructed between 1887 and 1892, under the supervision of Melbourne Harbor Trust engineer Joseph Brady, to modified designs of British engineer Sir John Coode. It is the oldest and largest surviving single dock in the world. The water basin covers 37.6 hectares (96 acres) and the entrance at the western end is 61 metres wide. It was built to accommodate ships of 9.5m draft, with initially timber wharf sheds and wharfs around the perimeter, supplemented by a piled timber central pier in 1919 extending from the east edge of the dock. At its greatest extent it accommodated 21 berths, although this has been substantially reduced as the land area has been redeveloped for the Docklands commercial and residential towers. The Central Pier, a later addition, retains two sheds but has been reduced to half its size. It was used as a dance venue, events, functions and entertainment until August 2019 when it was declared unsafe. In January 2020 it was shut down indefinitely because it would take "tens of millions of dollars" to rebuild to a safe standard.Portal and semi portal level luffing cranes once served timber and steel framed wharf sheds, all but three of which have been demolished. The oldest, dating from 1913, were along the eastern edge and were purported to have been dismantled for future restoration of the central pier sheds, two of which survive. All the cranes have been removed but crane rails survive on some wharf aprons. In the 1950s the dock handled over two million tons of cargo annually, increasing to 20 million revenue tons annually by the mid-1980s. However, increases in container shipping and the move of the one roll-on roll-off berth led to its abandonment for commercial shipping, and subsequent reuse of the area for development. The dock is included on the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR H1720) and National Trust Register and is considered to be of Local, State, National and International significance.Coode Canal and Victoria Dock received an Engineering Heritage Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.

West Melbourne Swamp
West Melbourne Swamp

The West Melbourne Swamp also known as Batman's Swamp, was a large saltwater wetland located to the west of the city of Melbourne, Victoria. It was an important resource for Aboriginal people.Surveyor Charles Grimes observed the swamp when he climbed a nearby hill during his 1803 voyage to chart Port Philip Bay. It became known as Batman's Swamp, after pioneer settler John Batman, who built a house at the base of the nearby Batman's Hill in April 1836, where he lived until his death in 1839. In 1912, George Gordon McCrae (son of diarist Georgiana McCrae) described it as being, in 1841: a real lake, intensely blue, nearly oval, and full of the clearest salt water. The lagoon was also described as; having a bottom of solid blue clay and laying at the high water level while the flats surrounding it were about one metre above high tide... Because of its distance from the city and its unsuitability for residential development, the land in the area became the location for many noxious industries, such as abattoirs, fellmongeries, tanneries and rubbish depots. In 1873, a Royal Commission into the development of the area described the swamp as "a disgusting swamp as repulsive in its present aspect as it is pestilent in its influence". The Commission recommended some residential development to the immediate west of the city, the reservation of areas along the Yarra River for docks, warehouses and industry, with the rest of the land being given over to agriculture and parkland.Drainage of the swamp was considered from the mid-19th century, but did not commence in earnest until about 1877, when a steam-operated pump was set up near Brown's Hill at South Kensington, and drains dug along Swamp Road, which was later reconstructed as Dynon Road, connecting to West Melbourne. Draining began in earnest from around 1890, under the design and supervision of Public Works Department (Victoria) engineer William Thwaites (engineer). At the same time, the outlet of Moonee Ponds Creek was widened to become Railway (Coal) Canal, diverting flood waters from the swamp, and providing direct water access for colliers from the coal port of Newcastle to the coaling facilities at the North Melbourne locomotive depot of the Victorian Railways. Appleton Dock was constructed in the 1950 at the outlet of Moonee Ponds Creek (Railway Canal). In 1907, the Footscray contractor, Michael Walsh, won a large state government contract to undertake further drainage. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the swamp margins and the bottom of Dudley Street became the site of a shantytown built by the unemployed, known as Dudley Flats.

Melbourne West Province

Melbourne West Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1904 until 2006.It was created in June 1904 when Melbourne Province was reduced in size (four members down to two), North Yarra Province and South Yarra Province were abolished. The new Melbourne West Province, Melbourne North Province, Melbourne South Province and Melbourne East Province were then created. Its area was defined by the Electoral Provinces Boundaries Act 1903 as: Commencing at the intersection of Elizabeth-street and Victoria-street; thence westerly by Victoria-street and the boundary of the city of Melbourne to the Saltwater River; thence southerly by that river and the Yarra River to the Coode Canal; thence easterly by that canal and the Yarra River to Clarendon-street; thence south-easterly by Clarendon-street to Dorcas-street; thence south-Westerly by that street to Nelson-road ; thence southerly by Nelson-road to St. Vincent-street west; thence south-westerly by that street to Cowie-street; thence north-westerly by Cowie-street to Pickles-street; thence southerly by that street to the shore of Hobson's Bay ; thence westerly and southerly by the shore of Hobson's Bay and westerly by the shore of Port Phillip Bay to the west boundary of the town of Williamstown (as described in the Local Government Act 1890) ; thence north by the said boundary to Stony Creek ; thence north-westerly by that creek to Reid-street; thence west by that street to the Geelong-road ; thence south-westerly, west, and southerly by that road to the Kororoit Creek ; thence northerly by that creek to the west boundary of section 18, parish of Cut-Paw-Paw ; thence north by the west boundaries of sections 18, 19, and 22 to the Saltwater River ; thence easterly by that river to Maribyrnong-road ; thence easterly by that road and the south boundary of allotment i), section 5, parish of Doutta Galla, to the Moonee Ponds; thence southerly by the Moonee Ponds to Flemington-road ; and thence south-easterly by that road and Elizabeth-street to the commencing point. To include the electors afloat in Hobson's Bay. Melbourne West Province was abolished at the 2006 state election in the wake of the Bracks Labor government's reform of the Legislative Council.

South Dynon Locomotive Depot
South Dynon Locomotive Depot

South Dynon Locomotive Depot is an Australian locomotive depot in Melbourne, purpose built for the servicing of diesel and electric locomotives by the Victorian Railways opening in July 1961.It was built adjacent to the Dynon marshalling yards. It has two separate turntables for stabling broad and standard gauge locomotives. It was included in the sale of V/Line Freight to Freight Victoria in May 1999, however has remained a VicTrack Asset, and the lease passed to Pacific National upon its acquisition of Freight Australia in August 2004. Downer EDi Rail operated roads 5 to 11 of the facility as part of a Victorian Locomotive fleet maintenance contract with Pacific National (PN) which ran from September 2008 until June 2016. The PN fleet maintenance relocated to the UGL operated Spotswood facility from that time. In October 2019 V/Line took lease of roads 2 through 6 for weekday interpeak storage. Bombardier V/Line Maintenance have operated roads 1 through 4 of the maintenance facility along with the neighboring fuel point since July 2010. In mid 2021 V/line refurbished roads 6 though 8 for Vlocity maintenance, particularly the standard gauge vehicles in the fleet. Roads 6, 7 (Dual Gauge) and 8 (Broad Gauge only). Bombardier, who will soon fall under the Alstom banner, will complete the maintenance. Further upgrades to Broad Gauge storage, maintenance roads as well as further freight facility upgrades are under planning with completion due in approximately 2024.In 2005-2006 three XR and three XRB class locomotives were built at the depot.