The+Yarra+River

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// The Yarra River has been developing as the city grew along with it. It has become a icon and primary feature of Melbourne since John Batman stood on the Yarra's banks and stated it would be a suitable place "to build a village".

The Yarra River has obtained its curving and twisting nature from lava flows that started millions of years ago and shaped how the freshwater stream would flow. Lava blocked the river in some areas, but over time the river wore through and cut a path through it again. Today, the Yarra River empties out into Port Phillip Bay. //  // The Aboriginal people who lived in the area of Melbourne were called the Woiworung people. The Yarra River was a meeting point, and the river flats and lagoons of Yarra River were important, providing the Aboriginal people with fish, eels and birds’ eggs. As for many people of old times, the Woiworung people lived by hunting and gathering. Their camps were made up of very light materials, so they could move from one spot to another with renewed food supplies. The women would have digging tools as well as baskets and other equipment. The knowledge about hunting and gathering techniques the Aboriginal people had was based on knowledge passed down from one generation to the next. 1835 was the year when John Batman, a white explorer, arrived on the Rebecca, surveyed Melbourne and the Yarra River, and signed a treaty with the Aboriginal people that gave him power over land stretching for 500,000 acres. He bought the land for a few simple housekeeping items from the Aboriginal people. Batman was looking for money, power, and ‘suitable land to build a settlement on’—and he got a lot of it. He settled where Spencer Street is (Southern Cross Station), and that is also why Melbourne’s Central Business District is positioned where it is. The only previous use of the land around Melbourne was by white settlers in 1803 when a convict settlement was made near Sorrento. That convict settlement had to be abandoned because of the swampy and soggy living conditions, as well as for the lack of suitable fresh water supplies. //      //  //   White settlers came faster than the growing town could set up a place fit for a large amount of people. In this way, official buildings, sewer systems, and a good infrastructure were needed, but weren’t regarded as important as they would be once the people started needing them. Since a large city wasn’t planned and the attraction of the land continued, the general hygiene of the place and living standards of the early years was revolting. The river practically deteriorated in health over a very small amount of time, when for thousands of years it had stood unspoiled. The factories set up along Southbank didn’t think about the general health of the Yarra and conveniently dumped their waste right in the stream of freshwater, and the waste left over from slaughtering houses made the Yarra River an extremely unpleasant place to be around, as it smelled nauseating. People then weren’t as concerned about bacteria and other infectious diseases that could be caught just by simply drinking the water; they didn’t have such a knowledgeable understanding of what could make you sick. And it wasn’t just the river that was beyond rank. The streets lacked the things we take for granted today: drain systems, sewer systems, and motorized street cleaners. The drinking water was filtered, but it was far from sparkling spring water. Many civilizians died of the diseases that could be cured today—especially typhoid and diphtheria—and there is an obvious reason why. // //  Since 1835, the Yarra River helped developing the shape of Melbourne city. However, the river has been reshaped a few times as the city grew around it. In the 1840s, work began around the river in attempt to deepen it for shipping. The Melbourne Harbour Trust later widened the river. //  //In 1847 Melbourne (named after Lord Melbourne, a British Prime Minister) was declared a city, if still a developing one.// **// 1851-1940 //**  //   One of the most chaotic, bustling eras on the Yarra River was when gold was discovered in 1851 and the river changed more into a large holding and docking platform. Ships were constantly bringing hundreds of immigrants seeking freedom, either escaping their land, trying to start a new life, all three, or most importantly, wanting to become rich with gold.
 * 1835-1850 **     // The first years of the settlement that grew in Melbourne consisted of a few hundred white settlers seeking money. They arrived on the Enterprize, not under the direction of John Batman, who had gone back to Tasmania to bring his own settlers over. They commenced clearing land along the Yarra River and building rough houses, mainly of wattle and daub. The Yarra River (the area right near the waterfall, where Queen’s Bridge is today) inevitably became the first centre point. It had a source of drinking water, but even more importantly, was a port for ships to deliver supplies and other necessities to the growing civilization. A Customs House (Immigration Museum today) was made near the waterfall for ships to deliver their goods. Factories were almost immediately set up almost directly opposite the Customs House on south bank, being mostly food and meat processing plants, abattoirs and breweries.
 *     **// Did you know? Before white settlers came, the Aboriginal people called the Yarra River 'Birrarung', meaning 'river of mists and shadows'. //**       ||

////  Between 1852 and 1854, many tents were set up on the south side of Yarra River up to St Kilda Road. This was called the Canvas Town and was Melbourne’s temporary solution to the overcrowding caused by the Victorian gold rush, and as many as 7000 immigrants lived there. The Canvas Town wasn’t a pleasant place to live; it was swampy in the winter and suffocating in the summer.

////  Melbourne became one of the richest and most important cities in the world. The banks came upon a time period of affluent economy. Today, that decade (which was through the 1880s) is often referred to as ‘Marvellous Melbourne'. There were still the dirty streets, the fights, and the Yarra River declining in its beauty, but buildings were being made with gold features, and the economic centres were extremely successful. The opulence did not last. The city that was once flourishing in money and grand architecture collapsed into a state of near poverty. The 1890s were years of sinking depression; nobody could see those years coming when they had previously lived in a superior settlement. //  //Throughout the 19th century, floods swept through the river, affecting cities around it. The Yarra Improvement Act in 1896 led to the river’s realignment and its beautification upstream from the Princes Bridge. //


 * //1980-2008// **

//   1980 was when Southgate emerged, the popular shopping and restaurant destination on the south bank of the Yarra River. This era is when entertainment centres and residential complexes made way. For modern Melbourne, these are six places that are on or are near the Yarra: //     //** Southbank/Southgate

** Southbank was originally an industrial centre for slaughtering houses, meat processing plants, breweries, and food processing plants. As the industrial companies started to move outwards or to find bigger space, the first big entertainment centres began to move in (like ice rinks) in the 1940s. The 1960s and the 1970s saw restaurants, bars, night clubs, and entertainment complexes having a sort of boom over Melbourne. The 1970s led into the next decade when Southgate emerged in the 1980s and Southbank purely became a popular commercial area. //    // Southgate today is a large, open complex that can be a tourist destination and a famous Melbourne hot spot. The complex is actually designed and manipulated in a particular plan so it is very open and leads you to other destinations like the Arts Centre and the Melbourne Aquarium. //  //** The Docklands and Victoria Harbour **//  //   The Docklands is a precinct of Melbourne that includes restaurants, entertainment centres, and (fairly expensive) residential buildings by the Yarra River. The Docklands have been developing with the Government, as well as with private businesses and the people that run the Docklands. They work together to decide what to do or build, and what plans they should set aside for the future. Currently the Docklands are working on a 10.5 year plan to improve the area. A large sum of money has also been set aside for the present and future projects. Right now at the Docklands they have planned to build higher and better, with an ANZ headquarters bank, a shopping centre (that is environmentally friendly), and a five star hotel on their way to being opened. Victoria Harbour is where ships come in to bring supplies to Melbourne. Cranes lift container cargo and big industrial ships dock there for port. Currently, there is a 12-year project for the area, and it includes implementing residential apartments, commercial office space, retail space, community facilities and the development of general public spaces. Myer announced that they will be building a new Corporate Store Support Offices in Victoria Harbour. //
 * **//Did you know? Melbourne creates cranes to operate at Victoria Harbour that cost $14 million to make. Melbourne also makes a profit when they sell their cranes for $28 million.//**  ||

//  The Crown Casino is known as one of the largest casinos in the southern hemisphere, the main gaming area stretching over half a kilometre. It is also one of the largest and most expensive entertainment complexes in Melbourne, and takes up over two blocks of space for night clubs, gambling, arcades, restaurants, shopping, a gold class movie theatre, two Crown hotels and Rockpool, a famed Melbourne restaurant. It was made in 1996 and sits on the south bank of the Yarra River. // //**    Flinders Street Station     **// //Flinders Street Station is currently undergoing a $10 million upgrade so the station can remain as it is now. The improvement also includes working on the station’s facilities to make it more appealing visually and make it more accessible. It also refurbishes several platforms, adding another lift for Platform 10, cleaning the famous façade, new lightings and more.//
 *  [[image:009_2_1.jpg width="237" height="303" align="left" caption="Crown Casino"]]     //Crown Casino//    **

//  Flinders Street is one of the busiest, well-known stations throughout Australia. It is considered part of the heart of Melbourne as it is across from Federation Square, and people often say to ‘meet under the clocks.’ The building was completed in 1854 and its architectural design was chosen by a competition in 1902, making it one of the oldest railway stations in the country. //
 * **//<span style="COLOR: #3ad949; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Did you know? Flinders Street Station has one of the longest train platforms in the world. //** ||

//**<span style="COLOR: #030303; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) **//  //   The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), consists of the Convention Centre, the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, and the new Melbourne Convention Centre. The new Melbourne Convention Centre has been awarded the six green star energy approval rating. A lot of the building’s energy savings is focused on reducing the amount of artificial light that has to be used, and reducing the amount of hot water that has to be heated using energy. Instead, the centre uses solar hot water systems, and a large amount of windows were added so natural light can be used instead of a large amount of artificial light. The MCEC is the largest exhibition space in Australia and stretches for half a kilometre down the Yarra River, containing 30,000 square metres in floor space and hosting large events like the Melbourne Motor Show. //  <span style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255)"> //** Eureka Tower **//    // The Eureka Tower is an enormous tourist attraction, as well as the tallest residential building in the world. The top windows are covered by a layer of real gold. The tower has an observation deck on the 88th floor which makes it the tallest observation deck in the southern hemisphere. The blue and the white used on the building represent the Eureka flag, the gold windows represent the gold rush and the red colour indicates the blood spilt during the stockade. The elevator used in the Eureka Tower takes approximately 40 seconds to reach the 88th floor, which makes it the fastest moving elevator in the southern hemisphere. //

//The buildings that make the Yarra River a centre for tourist destinations are some of the most famed places in Melbourne: the Crown Casino, the Eureka Tower, Southbank (Southgate), and Flinders Street Railway Station. Many Melburnians think that the buildings are what are changing the most in the city, in a recent survey. However, there is a dense history of the river and the Yarra cannot be assumed as just a freshwater stream running through the CBD. It has moulded the positioning of the city from the beginning and further convinced white settlers that they should move and settle in the place that was once called the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.

Our opinion:// //<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">(Ellie) The Yarra River is a centre where big expensive buildings stake out their areas and where cargo ships steam in to deliver more goods for Melbourne. I do not think it is thought of as ‘stunningly pretty’ now, whereas a little more than 160 years ago it might have been that way, or certainly less polluted. It would have been nice if had been kept preserved and wasn’t as bridge-ridden and tainted—if it was more of a highlight of the city. The city of Melbourne did grow around it, after all. //