ABSTRACT
As Melbourne's earliest port along the Yarra River expanded downstream in the late nineteenth century, the swampy land to the west of the central city grid was excavated to form a large harbour that soon developed into one of the largest ports in the southern hemisphere. With containerisation and larger ships in the late twentieth century, new docks were built further downstream and by the 1980s the docklands close to the city became available for redevelopment. The site comprised about 150 hectares of publicly owned land lining seventy hectares of river and harbour with seven kilometres of water frontage (Figure 7.1). The major harbour waterfront is 600 metres from the city grid, offering forms of amenity the inner city has never had – a large body of water and a new view of the city. The harbour, however, was largely hidden from the everyday lifeworld of the city and did not feature on the collective cognitive map. To those who knew it, who walked out along the pier and wharves to gaze back at the city across the water, this was the greatest waterfront opportunity Melbourne would ever see.
