Category: Yarra River

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Old photographs of Abbotsford on the web

I have discovered a collection of old photographs of the area covered by the now City of Yarra. This is one of them, described as:

“A view of the privately-owned timber bridge which used to cross the Yarra in Abbotsford at the end of Church Street. It was also known as the Penny Bridge because of the penny toll charged to cross it. The bridge was built in 1857 and demolished around 1899. On the extreme right of the photo can be seen the veranda of a house, probably one of the two still standing by the river at this location. On the far side of the bridge is a tall chimney which possibly belongs to the Vauxhall Distillery then located at the intersection of Church Street and the Yarra. A picket fence runs along the bank of the river.” Continue reading “Old photographs of Abbotsford on the web”

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Yarra boulevard closed to cars on Sunday 12 March

Car-free Bogota freeway

The first Sunday Circuit was on 12 February 2006. There were over 4,000 riders who came out in the sun to do a few laps. The road was closed to motor vehicles at 6am and opened again at midday. The closure allowed drivers to get to the Studley Park Boathouse, and there were arrangements for residents who live on the river side of the road. It’s the same deal on 12 March 2006. This is part of a growing worldwide phenomenon of car free days initiated by the Mayor of Bogota and enthusiastically taken up by Parisians. Continue reading “Yarra boulevard closed to cars on Sunday 12 March”

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Salta and the river

When I was a kid and Mary Delahunty was an ABC radio announcer, and firemen were not yet heroic soldiers caught in the cross fires of the war on terror my old man would drive past the Metropolitan Fire Brigade training facility (which is now best identified as being diagonally opposite Victoria Gardens, just near the Skipping Girl between Victoria St and the Yarra) and tell us to look out and see whether the concrete skyscraper shell was on fire. Very rarely, maybe even only once, it was, and firemen-to-be were scurrying about pretend maidens frantically sizing up whether to jump or choke and roast to death.

A particularly pleasant part of the main Yarra bike path goes past there on the way to Hawthorn and then, believe it or not, the city after coming across a bridge from the bushy wilderness of Yarra Bend Park past the Studley Park Vineyard. The bike path goes right beside a swimming pool full of water used as a supply for quelling the flames in these exercises.

A property developer called Salta now owns all four corners of the Burnley, Victoria and Walmer Sts corner, and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was to have heard Yarra Council’s objections until the planning application was “called in” by the Minister, Mary Delahunty. They paid the Brigade $20M for the asbestos-riddled building and the surrounding land and have plans for a $300 million development. Stay tuned or contact us with news…