Travel Australia

Classic Railway Stations: Port Melbourne, Victoria

The Sandridge/Port Melbourne railway line, which terimates at Port Melbourne station, was the first significant railway in Australia, and was opened by the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company, to carry passengers arriving in Victoria at Station Pier, and to alleviate the high cost of shipping goods using small vessels up the Yarra River to Melbourne.

By the 1960s, traffic to the port had dropped due to changes in cargo handling, and so in 1961, the branch to Princes Pier was reduced to a single track and worked as a siding, rather than a main line. Further rationalisations were made in December 1969, when the line from Graham to Port Melbourne was singled, with the Up track lifted, and the Up platform taken out of service. The signal box was also closed, replaced by a signal panel in a new station building, located on the Down platform.

The last passenger train ran on 10 October 1987. Goods trains had continued to run through the station to Port Melbourne until at least September of that year.



In 1987, the line was converted to light rail, and it is now served by tram route 109, which operates between Box Hill and Port Melbourne. Melbourne tram route 109 now operates on the converted track. The section from Southbank Junction to Port Melbourne was converted to light rail, requiring the conversion from broad gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) used by the Melbourne rail network to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge tram track, as well as reducing the overhead voltage from 1,500 V DC to 600 V DC required for the trams. Additionally, low level platforms were built on the sites of the former stations to accommodate the trams which contained steps to street level. Low floor trams have since been introduced to the route.

The Sandridge Line

Work began on laying the railway in March 1853, under the supervision of the company's Engineer-in-Chief James Moore. Trains were ordered from Robert Stephenson and Company, of the United Kingdom, but the first train was locally built by Robertson, Martin & Smith, because of shipping delays. Australia's first steam locomotive was built in ten weeks and cost £2,700.

The line was opened in September 1854 (three years after the discovery of gold at Ballarat) and ran for 4 km from the Melbourne (or City) Terminus (on the site of modern-day Flinders Street station), crossing the Yarra River via the Sandridge Bridge, to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne).



The opening of the line occurred during the period of the Victorian gold rush - a time when both Melbourne and Victoria undertook massive capital works, each with its own gala opening. The inaugural journey on the Sandridge line was no exception. According to the Argus newspaper's report of the next day: "Long before the hour appointed ... a great crowd assembled round the station at the Melbourne terminus, lining the whole of Flinders Street". Lieutenant-Governor Charles Hotham and Lady Hotham were aboard the train - which consisted of two first class and one second class carriages - and were presented with satin copies of the railway's timetable and bylaws. This was the first steam-powered commercial railway service in Australia and played a vital role in the development of Melbourne as a great commercial city of the 19th century.

The trip took 10 minutes, none of the later stations along the line having been built. On arriving at Station Pier (onto which the tracks extended), it was hailed with gun-salutes by the warships HMS Electra and HMS Fantome.

Port Melbourne

Port Melbourne was originally called Sandridge. It was William Wedge Darke who surveyed Port Melbourne area under the instructions of Surveyor Robert Hoddle. He worked from a Caravan that he parked near the beach. A track was put through the tea tree scrub and a sign for the settlement was erected on as sandy ridge, and the name Sandridge was adopted. In 1884, local council changed the name to Port Melbourne.

Land sales were delayed until 1850. The gold rush immigration brought passengers and freight which made use of a government pier on Hobsons Bay, served by Australia's first railway line from Melbourne to Hobsons Bay. The first allotments surveyed in Sandridge were between Stokes Street and a linear lagoon on the east, now Esplanade East.

The formerly industrial Port Melbourne has been subject to intense urban renewal over the past decade. As a result, Port Melbourne is a diverse and historic area, featuring industrial and port areas along the Yarra, to open parklands, bayside beaches, exclusive apartments and Bay Street's restaurants and cafes. The suburb also forms a major transport link from east to west, home to one end of the West Gate Bridge.


Station Pier

In the early days Melbourne's port was little more than a pier jutting out into the bay. The pier around which the suburb of Port Melbourne grew carried the tracks of Australia's first steam railway from 1854. Originally called Railway Pier, Station Pier has played a pivotal role in Victorians' lives, particularly the gold seekers and settlers throughout the 1800s who passed over it. As such, it is one of the most historic jetties in Australia. In 1861, the original pier had to be extended to a length of more than 661 metres as it was ill-equipped to accommodate the increasingly large and more powerful steamships visiting Australia's shores.



During August 1899 the first contingent of troops headed to the Boer War in South Africa from Station Pier. In October 1914, sixteen ships left Port Melbourne carrying troops, horses and supplies as part of Australia's contingency for the Great War effort. Station Pier was also the place of return for the hospital ships. The 1940's saw many troops embark and head to the Middle East, Britain and Singapore for World War II from Station Pier.



During Australia's two major waves of immigration, between 1851 and 1890 and between 1947 and 1970, there were many days when all of Station Pier's four berths were in use. This activity is intrinsically linked to Melbourne's rich multicultural society with an average of 61,000 overseas passengers arriving on an annual basis between 1949 and 1966. For many post-war migrants Station Pier symbolises where their new life began. A red brick cubicle with the words "uomini" and "antres" spelt out in tile, with a translation - "mens", is evidence of the influx of non English-speaking migrants through the port.


Centenary Bridge

Built and originally known as the Overhead Bridge at Station Pier, what is now referred to as Centenary Bridge was constructed in 1934 to give better access to Station Pier and make the ‘disgraceful’ Port Melbourne waterfront more attractive in Victoria’s 100th year. For decades, complaints about our waterfront’s unsightliness had gone unsorted.



The new bridge would solve both problems. And because it was built as part of the unemployment relief ,program of the Great Depression, it also solved a third, in that time of severe depression and unemployment. Arching stylishly over the railyards, the new overhead bridge was completed in time for the arrival of the Duke of Cornwall , who lead Victoria’s Centenary celebrations.

Having outlived its usefulness, the bridge was demolished in 1991 to make way for the Beacon Cove housing and waterside development. A stone pylon is all that remains of the bridge.