Clik here to view.
‘By the riverbank and around the lagoon’
In this watery week, I went looking for wetlands in the place where they were once found, in the area now known as Docklands. Reed Vessel sits in a pool surrounded by trees between the Harbour...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Port of Melbourne leased
The Labor Government announced yesterday that it had leased the Port of Melbourne, the country’s biggest container and cargo port, for more than $9.7 billion. The Lonsdale Consortium, comprising of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Utilities
The thread for this exploration in Port Places began in Johnson St in South Melbourne and ended (for the time being at least) off Spencer St at the Upper West Side development of the former Melbourne...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The long tail of polystyrene
It’s been raining in Port Places – 23.8mm this week at North Wharf. Rain making its way down the kerb and channel, creeks and drains into the Yarra River carrying a burden of stuff that hasn’t been...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bank Houses in Montague
‘It is crucial that Fishermans Bend include sufficient public housing. This is not only economically and morally important, but would add to the diversity of the community that will live and work in a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Seeking Alignment
Freight on rail – who can argue with the proposition? It’s easy to agree that it would be ideal if containers were loaded onto trains and whisked efficiently away from the Port with minimum disruption...
View ArticleClik here to view.
View from Point Ormond
Looking west towards Port Melbourne and Williamstown There’s something about Point Ormond that tells that it has always been a significant place. The Yalukit Willam of the Boon Wurrung gathered here...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fishing for Snapper
The snapper were running off Port Melbourne this week. On Monday, ninety boats at a casual count hovered just off the piers. Going into the 2014 election, Labor promised to grow recreational fishing....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Port Votes
The results have been declared. Bernadene Voss, Marcus Pearl and Ogy Simic will represent the new Gateway ward for the next four years. For the first time since the creation of Port Phillip in 1994,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pink Haze
It’s that time of year when Westgate Park is ’empurpled’ – to borrow that wonderful word from Georgiana McCrae, 19th century artist and diarist. Pigface and rounded noon flower carpet parts of the...
View ArticleNews in Port Places: week ending 13 11 2016
Development Controls for Fishermans Bend Minister for Planning Richard Wynne announced mandatory development controls for Fishermans Bend today. With a new round of community engagement beginning this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
34,000 pieces of litter and counting
A Story of Dedication Every single day since 22 March, Ross and Ramona Headifen have returned to the same 35m of beach to pick up plastic litter. The survey zone is First Point beach in Port...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hearts in our mouths, hands in our pockets
For every bird there is this last migration So wrote poet A.D. Hope. There are now only fourteen wild (not captive bred) Orange-bellied parrots left in the world. Or OBPs as those who are fighting for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Finding the River
A new linear park on the Bay side of the Westgate Bridge has been added to Westgate Park, opening up a formerly neglected area of open space to the public for the first time. The walking and cycling...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wrapping up 2016
The weather The hottest day of 2016 was the 13th January when it reached 42 degrees. On that Wednesday evening, the Spirit of Tasmania broke its moorings as winds of up to 100 kph whipped up across the...
View ArticleNews in Port Places: week ending 2 12 2016
Holden builds its last engine in Fishermans Bend, Port Melbourne Holden completed its last Australian V6 engine number 1,137,282 about 11am on 29 November. It was laser-etched with “LAST ONE 29/11/17″....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The 2016 Collection
Less faithful to this river beach under the Westgate Bridge than in previous years but constant enough to get to know the rhythms of litter. After rain, the flood of littered plastic borne downstream...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Article 0
All the best to faithful readers of Port Places. Taking a break from Port Places – back later in January. Hope you have a good restorative break.
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Year 2017
When white tents appear on Princes Pier in early January they signal that the Christmas-New Year lull is over and the cycle of the year’s calendar begins again, They announce Theofania – the Blessing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Not fit for luxury consumption
Station Pier – not built for luxury liners “A pretty unattractive arrival point” with significant limitations1 was how Lord Mayor Robert Doyle described Station Pier recently. He suggested that it...
View Article