Audiovisual fixed media work exploring the history of the Docklands in Melbourne.
Videography: Brigid Burke
Sound and video: Alice Bennett
Docklands was once a vibrant area of wetlands home to many species of fish and birds and was used as a hunting ground and meeting place by several indigenous communities. After European settlement, the area became home to the gas works, rail works, and abattoirs and tanneries, all of which used the Moonie Ponds Creek and the West Melbourne Swamp as a dumping ground. The swamp was drained due to its foul condition from the 1890s and was completed in the early 1900s. During this time the dock was constructed and the mouth of the Yarra was excavated to aid cargo ship access. During the great depression, the area where the swamp had been was occupied by Melbourne’s homeless who constructed ‘humpies’ from industrial scraps. These makeshift homes were named the ‘Dudley Mansions‘. The Melbourne dock became redundant as the shipping industry moved to containers and the Swanson dock was built in the 1970s in West Melbourne to accommodate the new shipping requirements. Docklands became a wasteland of warehouses used only for underground raves as various state governments toed and froed about what to do with the area.
Now awash with private boats and surrounded by businesses, apartments, and restaurants, it’s hard to see the colorfully disappointing history of this place. This work hopes to uncover some of the noise below the surface.