FORMER ALBERT PARK TIP AND BARRACKS SITE

AUGHTIE DRIVE ALBERT PARK, PORT PHILLIP CITY

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    FORMER ALBERT PARK TIP AND BARRACKS SITE - History

    The Albert Park Barracks were erected in the southwest corner of Albert Park during World War Two. The Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), based at the military camp,was established to madeused of computers and communications equipment to intercept and decrypt foreign communications. The DSD remained at the site until its move to the Victoria Barracks in 1979 (and demolition of the 'temporary' buildings).

    SiteCard data copied on 23/12/2024:Albert Park Reserve At the time of contact in the late 1830s, the Albert Park area was a wetland with two salt lagoons lying behind the beach. This location was once important to the Yalukit willam clan of the Bun wurrung for camping and hunting activities. Contemporary European settlers observed them hunting, gathering and constructing shelters made of bark (mia-mias) at the Albert Park lagoon, which contained wildlife, such as ducks, swans, eels, native fish, possums, reptiles, amphibians and birds (Eidelson 2014). Early European settlers followed the indigenous practice of hunting wildfowl around the Albert Park lagoon, but by the 1860s, the lagoon had become polluted from the disruption of the natural hydological system due to the expansion of urganisation and the waste management practices of the European settlers who discarded rubbish into the lagoon (Barnard and Keating 1996:17, 33). (Figure 3) Albert Park was established as a recereational reserve as early as the early 1850s (Barnard and Keating 1996: 14-15). The land around the swamp had undergone several years of vegetation clearance by 1860 and was being used as an informal grazing ground for cattle and goats, which would continue until the end of the 19th century (Barnard and Keating 1996: 16-17, 24) (Figure 3). The earliest sporting uses of Albert Park Reserve were for cricket and archery (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). In 1855, the St Kilda Cricket Club played its first matches in the southeast portion of the park, the location that would later become the St Kilda Cricket Ground (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). Likewise, the South Melbourne and Warehousemen’s cricket grounds were established to the north and east of the lagoon by 1864, with an additional location to the south being attributed to the St Kilda Bowling Club in 1865 (Barnard and Keating 1996: 21, 23). In the southwest portion of the park, the Victorian Archery Club used the space as an archery ground from 1857 until 1859 the Victorian government took over the area and established a small run for alpacas, naming it Alpaca Park or Alpaca Reserve (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18; Cooper 1931: 298; Daley 1940: 202). The Alpaca Reserve was closed down a couple of years later (Daley 1940: 202). By 1890, the cricket grounds, lagoon and broader parkland were being used for various other sports such as football, golf, horse racing, cycling, swimming and rowing (Barnard and Keating 1996: 54-55). The park was reserved by St Kilda Council on the 1st of February 1864 and was given the name Albert Park in honour of Queen Victoria’s deceased consort Prince Albert (Barnard and Keating 1996: 26). (Figure 5) After the legal formalisation of the public recreational reserve, in the 1870s the land underwent a series of developments, including the erection of fences and gates around the park, the establishment of footpaths and carriageways, and the construction of boathouses belonging to select individuals and groups, including the Albert Park Yacht Club (Neale 1996: 5). Notably, by 1876 several carriageways had been constructed throughout the reserve, including the Cecil Street Carriageway, which was later renamed to Aughtie Drive (Figure 4; Lardner and Ward 1871: Barnard and Keating 1996: 24-25). (Figure 4) One of the major changes to the natural landscape of the lagoon and wetlands occurred in the 1870s and 1880s and was the transformation of the lagoon into the Albert Park Lake. 1873 saw the beginning of works to dredge the lake to deepen sections of it, and the installation of a pumping system and water supply of fresh water from the Yarra Rvier. In 1873-1874 an “Un-watering” drain was excavated from the lake running south-east to the Cowderoy Street Drain. In 1885-1886 further dredging of the lagoon occurred, the pump from Yarra was upgraded, and dredged material was used to infill marshy ground in order to create a formal lake shoreline. (Barnard and Keating 1996: 33-35) (Figure 4; Figure 6) Albert Park Tip From 1850, sanitation and waste disposal became a major issue in Melbourne. As urban areas grew, there was urgent need for improved sewerage and waste management, including domestic waste and industrial waste from meat processing, food industries, and factories. In January 1850, a new law allowed the Melbourne City Council (MCC) to clear, pave, drain, and sewer streets as needed (Nicholls 2002: 144). Despite these measures, Melbourne remained one of the dirtiest cities in the world, partly due to the 1851 Gold Rush which saw an unprecedented influx of migrants into the new colony of Victoria (Nicholls 2002: 144). In 1850, the MCC introduced By-law 27, which imposed a ten-pound fine for anyone depositing waste like night soil or offal on public land, except in designated depots (Nicholls 2002: 144). The city's solution to the waste problem was to use large, open recreation reserves as dumpsites. These areas were chosen for their size, proximity to the city, and availability for easy waste disposal (Nicholls 2002: 144). Sections of Albert Park Reserve were used as early as 1890 as an informal dumping ground for household waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). A report published in 1890 on the state of sanitary conditions in Melbourne by Dan Astley Gresswell, the medical inspector of the new Victorian Board of Public Health, details the disposal of rubbish in South Melbourne (Gresswell 1890: 11): "A large surface of land behind the Military Barracks has recently been raised some feet with the refuse of South Melbourne. This land is being raised expressly for building purposes, and the deposition of filth there is still actively proceeding. It is true that a covering of clean earth is supposed to be regularly provided by the contractor; but it is not being thus regularly provided, and even if it were, the filth deposited will be in a state of putrescence for some years. It should, however, be stated that the South Melbourne Council are urging forward the erection of refuse-destructors, which they hope to have in operation in the course of a few months." As Gresswell specified in his report, the Fryer’s refuse destructor built by South Melbourne Council became operational later in 1890 (Gresswell 1890: 12; Nicholls 2002: 167). In 1894, it was reported in The Record (27 January 1894: 2) that mussels had been “removed to Albert Park and there intrenched”, marking one of the earliest reports of the reserve being used as a refuse site. By 1896 the South Melbourne Council was using a section of Albert Park Reserve near Canterbury Road as an official rubbish tip (Barnard and Keating 1996: 72). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the reason for depositing rubbish at Albert Park was to “form the park into healthy, grassy lawns” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). However, reports of the poor management of refuse disposal at the tip and the resulting risks to public health soon appeared. In January 1897, several complaints were made by residents who had contracted malaria from water contaminated by the Albert Park tip site (The Argus, 21 January 1897: 6). A month later, a council inspection of the site found that waste at the site was not being appropriately buried; rather, the “street scrapings and garbage were mixed together, and the smell was not at all agreeable” (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). At this time, the opposite end of the park was also being used to deposit rubbish, indicating that the tip extended further than the portion of the park near Canterbury Road (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). By 1907, additional tip sites were reported at the location of the South Melbourne Cricket Ground and the land to the east of Albert Park Lake, within the extent of the present golf course (The Age, 25 January 1907: 8; Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). During the same period, St Kilda Council was also using the southern area of the park near Fitzroy Street and at the end of Mary Street as a dumping ground for rubbish (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; The Herald, 19 April 1900: 3). The scale of the dumping at the Albert Park Tip was substantial. Estimates suggest that 400 loads of rubbish were deposited at the tip every month in the early 20th century (The Argus, Wednesday, 15 March 1911: 15), and The Age (26 May 1905, p. 8) reported that by the end of seven months, the tip was 250 yards long and 8 feet deep (approximately 228m by 2.4m). Waste was often spread in thin layers and covered with earth to aid disinfection, though this method was widely criticised. As one report stated: "The refuse was spread in a thin layer, and then covered with enough earth to ensure more or less perfect disinfection. But tipping is at best but a rough and ready method of disposing of refuse, and it is questionable, to say the least of it, whether it should be permitted in Albert Park, one of the lungs of the city, in any circumstances." (The Age, 26 May 1905: 8) A 1911 entry in The Argus (18 March 1911: 5) further elaborates on the extent and condition of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve: "The tip is situated near the lagoon, and the refuse is thrown into a low-lying portion of the park. Several acres have already been filled in, and made level with the land adjoining. There are about three acres yet to be covered with the refuse of the suburb. At the present time the vicinity of the tip is in a deplorable condition…Twelve municipal carts are continually employed from Monday morning till Saturday at midday conveying the garbage of the locality there." The poor state of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve prompted the Board of Public Health to announce that the municipalities had three years to close their rubbish tips (The Argus, 23 March 1911: 8). In 1916, the Board of Public Health temporarily gave up its efforts to close the municipal tips while reclamation work was taking place at Albert Park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the deposited refuse provided vital filling to build up the Park’s “low-lying, swampy land” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). By the end of 1920, A.E. Aughtie, the City Engineer and Surveyor of South Melbourne Council, claimed that, “the surface of a good half of the park was composed of garbage. It was noticeable, however, that on each of these areas the growth was luxuriant, both of grass and trees” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). Methods of waste disposal were varied, including the daily placement of “sand and quicklime” on the rubbish, and the burning of waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; Gresswell 1890: 12). The latter method often created unbearable conditions for nearby residents. In 1916, The Malvern Standard (13 May 1916: 3) quoted a petition from local ratepayers to have the St Kilda Municipal Tip closed: "We, the undersigned ratepayers and residents of the city of St Kilda, again respectfully beg to your attention the nuisance caused by the ‘municipal tip’ in Albert Park. The smell therefrom is at times offensive, and, when burning off takes place, we are forced to close our doors and windows with a view of mitigating the nuisance, and to prevent being nearly suffocated by the smoke." In the same year, St Kilda Council proposed the extension of their tip to the Albert Park Committee of Management, asking to be granted “a strip of two and a half chains wide north of and adjoining the existing tip” (The Prahran Telegraph, 9 December 1916: 5). A report included in the letter noted that the South Melbourne Tip would “likely continue for two years more” while the “St Kilda tip will be exhausted in three months”. However, the original portion of the tip operated by St Kilda Council was not closed until September 1921, costing £200 to reinstate the area (Cooper 1931: 105). In October 1923, St Kilda Council began operating a rubbish destructor at its depot in Inkerman Street, depositing some of the destructor’s ashes at the St Kilda end of the park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). Despite the closure of their tip at Albert Park, St Kilda Council continued to dispose of refuse at the Albert Park Tip into the 1920s, with newspapers reporting that the “St Kilda Tip” was a “perfect eyesore, being a conglomeration of tins and vegetable matter” (The Age, 21 December 1928: 7). During this period, South Melbourne Council sought to use a broader portion of the western side of Albert Park Lake to continue its rubbish tip operations, the justification for this being that this side of the park contained a large amount of sand that “could be dug out, sold off” and subsequently “filled with garbage” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). An entry in a 1928 edition of The Age (19 December 1928: 15) reported that South Melbourne Council and the Albert Park Committee of Management “derived a big revenue from the sale of sand”. A 1931 aerial of Albert Park Reserve indicates the extent of sand mining and likely rubbish deposition at that time, particularly within the project area boundaries (Landata 1931; Figure 7). Evidence of sand mining can be seen as the white patches of disturbed ground and the pale linear marks are likely backfilled trenches from sand mining and refuse (Figure 7). While protests from residents and local councils regarding the rubbish tip at Albert Park were constant throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the South Melbourne Council continued operations throughout this period (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90; The Herald 28 February 1946: 10). In 1943, there were reports of animal produce and “condemned” food waste dumped at the tip site, as well as scavenging: "Condemned food had been dumped on the tip, but every care had been taken to prevent it from being salvaged and used for human consumption. It was possible, but hardly likely, that trespassers on the tip had moved some at night, but every possible precaution was taken to prevent this, and there was no evidence that any goods had been removed." (The Record, 24 April 1943: 1). The South Melbourne Council continued its sand mining and tipping operations in the post-war period, using land between Middle Park station and the south-east corner of the park to deposit refuse (Barnard and Keating 1996: 122) (Figure 8). In 1948 the Albert Park Committee imposed a limit on the area from which sand could be removed and gave notice to the South Melbourne Council to seek an alternative tip site (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123). By June 1949, it was reported that the “end of tipping in the Albert Park” would soon occur (The Record, 25 June 1949: 1). Despite protests from South Melbourne Council, the rubbish tip was officially closed in October of 1950 and, by 1951, former tip locations within the park were being prepared for various upgrades, including the construction of new sporting facilities (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123; The Herald, 2 June 1951: 2). (Figure 9) A plan of a last section of the tip to remain in use on the western side of Albert Park Lake and east of the railway line was drawn in 1951 by the Public Works Department after the closure of the tip in 1950 (Figure 10). The plan was prepared for the purposes of understanding the depths of the tip deposits at that time (Public Works Department 1951) (Figure 10). This plan demonstrates that the tip extended on the west side of Albert Park Lake between Aughtie Drive (now Aughtie Walk, then named Park Road or Park Drive) and the railway line, which is further confirmed by a 1951 aerial in which the impacts of sand mining are still apparent (Landata 1951) (Figure 9). Similarly, a 1994 plan of tip deposits in Albert Park Reserve by the Hassell Group provides a depiction of the full extent of the rubbish tip operated by South Melbourne Council between 1890 and 1950, covering approximately 39% of the park (Hassell Group 1994: 16). In the 1950s-1960s the area of the former Tip and part of the military barracks complex was transformed into sports playing fields and a soccer stadium (Figure 11; Figure 12).SiteCard data copied on 23/12/2024:Albert Park Reserve At the time of contact in the late 1830s, the Albert Park area was a wetland with two salt lagoons lying behind the beach. This location was once important to the Yalukit willam clan of the Bun wurrung for camping and hunting activities. Contemporary European settlers observed them hunting, gathering and constructing shelters made of bark (mia-mias) at the Albert Park lagoon, which contained wildlife, such as ducks, swans, eels, native fish, possums, reptiles, amphibians and birds (Eidelson 2014). Early European settlers followed the indigenous practice of hunting wildfowl around the Albert Park lagoon, but by the 1860s, the lagoon had become polluted from the disruption of the natural hydological system due to the expansion of urganisation and the waste management practices of the European settlers who discarded rubbish into the lagoon (Barnard and Keating 1996:17, 33). (Figure 3) Albert Park was established as a recereational reserve as early as the early 1850s (Barnard and Keating 1996: 14-15). The land around the swamp had undergone several years of vegetation clearance by 1860 and was being used as an informal grazing ground for cattle and goats, which would continue until the end of the 19th century (Barnard and Keating 1996: 16-17, 24) (Figure 3). The earliest sporting uses of Albert Park Reserve were for cricket and archery (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). In 1855, the St Kilda Cricket Club played its first matches in the southeast portion of the park, the location that would later become the St Kilda Cricket Ground (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). Likewise, the South Melbourne and Warehousemen’s cricket grounds were established to the north and east of the lagoon by 1864, with an additional location to the south being attributed to the St Kilda Bowling Club in 1865 (Barnard and Keating 1996: 21, 23). In the southwest portion of the park, the Victorian Archery Club used the space as an archery ground from 1857 until 1859 the Victorian government took over the area and established a small run for alpacas, naming it Alpaca Park or Alpaca Reserve (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18; Cooper 1931: 298; Daley 1940: 202). The Alpaca Reserve was closed down a couple of years later (Daley 1940: 202). By 1890, the cricket grounds, lagoon and broader parkland were being used for various other sports such as football, golf, horse racing, cycling, swimming and rowing (Barnard and Keating 1996: 54-55). The park was reserved by St Kilda Council on the 1st of February 1864 and was given the name Albert Park in honour of Queen Victoria’s deceased consort Prince Albert (Barnard and Keating 1996: 26). (Figure 5) After the legal formalisation of the public recreational reserve, in the 1870s the land underwent a series of developments, including the erection of fences and gates around the park, the establishment of footpaths and carriageways, and the construction of boathouses belonging to select individuals and groups, including the Albert Park Yacht Club (Neale 1996: 5). Notably, by 1876 several carriageways had been constructed throughout the reserve, including the Cecil Street Carriageway, which was later renamed to Aughtie Drive (Figure 4; Lardner and Ward 1871: Barnard and Keating 1996: 24-25). (Figure 4) One of the major changes to the natural landscape of the lagoon and wetlands occurred in the 1870s and 1880s and was the transformation of the lagoon into the Albert Park Lake. 1873 saw the beginning of works to dredge the lake to deepen sections of it, and the installation of a pumping system and water supply of fresh water from the Yarra Rvier. In 1873-1874 an “Un-watering” drain was excavated from the lake running south-east to the Cowderoy Street Drain. In 1885-1886 further dredging of the lagoon occurred, the pump from Yarra was upgraded, and dredged material was used to infill marshy ground in order to create a formal lake shoreline. (Barnard and Keating 1996: 33-35) (Figure 4; Figure 6) Albert Park Tip From 1850, sanitation and waste disposal became a major issue in Melbourne. As urban areas grew, there was urgent need for improved sewerage and waste management, including domestic waste and industrial waste from meat processing, food industries, and factories. In January 1850, a new law allowed the Melbourne City Council (MCC) to clear, pave, drain, and sewer streets as needed (Nicholls 2002: 144). Despite these measures, Melbourne remained one of the dirtiest cities in the world, partly due to the 1851 Gold Rush which saw an unprecedented influx of migrants into the new colony of Victoria (Nicholls 2002: 144). In 1850, the MCC introduced By-law 27, which imposed a ten-pound fine for anyone depositing waste like night soil or offal on public land, except in designated depots (Nicholls 2002: 144). The city's solution to the waste problem was to use large, open recreation reserves as dumpsites. These areas were chosen for their size, proximity to the city, and availability for easy waste disposal (Nicholls 2002: 144). Sections of Albert Park Reserve were used as early as 1890 as an informal dumping ground for household waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). A report published in 1890 on the state of sanitary conditions in Melbourne by Dan Astley Gresswell, the medical inspector of the new Victorian Board of Public Health, details the disposal of rubbish in South Melbourne (Gresswell 1890: 11): "A large surface of land behind the Military Barracks has recently been raised some feet with the refuse of South Melbourne. This land is being raised expressly for building purposes, and the deposition of filth there is still actively proceeding. It is true that a covering of clean earth is supposed to be regularly provided by the contractor; but it is not being thus regularly provided, and even if it were, the filth deposited will be in a state of putrescence for some years. It should, however, be stated that the South Melbourne Council are urging forward the erection of refuse-destructors, which they hope to have in operation in the course of a few months." As Gresswell specified in his report, the Fryer’s refuse destructor built by South Melbourne Council became operational later in 1890 (Gresswell 1890: 12; Nicholls 2002: 167). In 1894, it was reported in The Record (27 January 1894: 2) that mussels had been “removed to Albert Park and there intrenched”, marking one of the earliest reports of the reserve being used as a refuse site. By 1896 the South Melbourne Council was using a section of Albert Park Reserve near Canterbury Road as an official rubbish tip (Barnard and Keating 1996: 72). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the reason for depositing rubbish at Albert Park was to “form the park into healthy, grassy lawns” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). However, reports of the poor management of refuse disposal at the tip and the resulting risks to public health soon appeared. In January 1897, several complaints were made by residents who had contracted malaria from water contaminated by the Albert Park tip site (The Argus, 21 January 1897: 6). A month later, a council inspection of the site found that waste at the site was not being appropriately buried; rather, the “street scrapings and garbage were mixed together, and the smell was not at all agreeable” (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). At this time, the opposite end of the park was also being used to deposit rubbish, indicating that the tip extended further than the portion of the park near Canterbury Road (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). By 1907, additional tip sites were reported at the location of the South Melbourne Cricket Ground and the land to the east of Albert Park Lake, within the extent of the present golf course (The Age, 25 January 1907: 8; Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). During the same period, St Kilda Council was also using the southern area of the park near Fitzroy Street and at the end of Mary Street as a dumping ground for rubbish (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; The Herald, 19 April 1900: 3). The scale of the dumping at the Albert Park Tip was substantial. Estimates suggest that 400 loads of rubbish were deposited at the tip every month in the early 20th century (The Argus, Wednesday, 15 March 1911: 15), and The Age (26 May 1905, p. 8) reported that by the end of seven months, the tip was 250 yards long and 8 feet deep (approximately 228m by 2.4m). Waste was often spread in thin layers and covered with earth to aid disinfection, though this method was widely criticised. As one report stated: "The refuse was spread in a thin layer, and then covered with enough earth to ensure more or less perfect disinfection. But tipping is at best but a rough and ready method of disposing of refuse, and it is questionable, to say the least of it, whether it should be permitted in Albert Park, one of the lungs of the city, in any circumstances." (The Age, 26 May 1905: 8) A 1911 entry in The Argus (18 March 1911: 5) further elaborates on the extent and condition of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve: "The tip is situated near the lagoon, and the refuse is thrown into a low-lying portion of the park. Several acres have already been filled in, and made level with the land adjoining. There are about three acres yet to be covered with the refuse of the suburb. At the present time the vicinity of the tip is in a deplorable condition…Twelve municipal carts are continually employed from Monday morning till Saturday at midday conveying the garbage of the locality there." The poor state of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve prompted the Board of Public Health to announce that the municipalities had three years to close their rubbish tips (The Argus, 23 March 1911: 8). In 1916, the Board of Public Health temporarily gave up its efforts to close the municipal tips while reclamation work was taking place at Albert Park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the deposited refuse provided vital filling to build up the Park’s “low-lying, swampy land” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). By the end of 1920, A.E. Aughtie, the City Engineer and Surveyor of South Melbourne Council, claimed that, “the surface of a good half of the park was composed of garbage. It was noticeable, however, that on each of these areas the growth was luxuriant, both of grass and trees” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). Methods of waste disposal were varied, including the daily placement of “sand and quicklime” on the rubbish, and the burning of waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; Gresswell 1890: 12). The latter method often created unbearable conditions for nearby residents. In 1916, The Malvern Standard (13 May 1916: 3) quoted a petition from local ratepayers to have the St Kilda Municipal Tip closed: "We, the undersigned ratepayers and residents of the city of St Kilda, again respectfully beg to your attention the nuisance caused by the ‘municipal tip’ in Albert Park. The smell therefrom is at times offensive, and, when burning off takes place, we are forced to close our doors and windows with a view of mitigating the nuisance, and to prevent being nearly suffocated by the smoke." In the same year, St Kilda Council proposed the extension of their tip to the Albert Park Committee of Management, asking to be granted “a strip of two and a half chains wide north of and adjoining the existing tip” (The Prahran Telegraph, 9 December 1916: 5). A report included in the letter noted that the South Melbourne Tip would “likely continue for two years more” while the “St Kilda tip will be exhausted in three months”. However, the original portion of the tip operated by St Kilda Council was not closed until September 1921, costing £200 to reinstate the area (Cooper 1931: 105). In October 1923, St Kilda Council began operating a rubbish destructor at its depot in Inkerman Street, depositing some of the destructor’s ashes at the St Kilda end of the park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). Despite the closure of their tip at Albert Park, St Kilda Council continued to dispose of refuse at the Albert Park Tip into the 1920s, with newspapers reporting that the “St Kilda Tip” was a “perfect eyesore, being a conglomeration of tins and vegetable matter” (The Age, 21 December 1928: 7). During this period, South Melbourne Council sought to use a broader portion of the western side of Albert Park Lake to continue its rubbish tip operations, the justification for this being that this side of the park contained a large amount of sand that “could be dug out, sold off” and subsequently “filled with garbage” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). An entry in a 1928 edition of The Age (19 December 1928: 15) reported that South Melbourne Council and the Albert Park Committee of Management “derived a big revenue from the sale of sand”. A 1931 aerial of Albert Park Reserve indicates the extent of sand mining and likely rubbish deposition at that time, particularly within the project area boundaries (Landata 1931; Figure 7). Evidence of sand mining can be seen as the white patches of disturbed ground and the pale linear marks are likely backfilled trenches from sand mining and refuse (Figure 7). While protests from residents and local councils regarding the rubbish tip at Albert Park were constant throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the South Melbourne Council continued operations throughout this period (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90; The Herald 28 February 1946: 10). In 1943, there were reports of animal produce and “condemned” food waste dumped at the tip site, as well as scavenging: "Condemned food had been dumped on the tip, but every care had been taken to prevent it from being salvaged and used for human consumption. It was possible, but hardly likely, that trespassers on the tip had moved some at night, but every possible precaution was taken to prevent this, and there was no evidence that any goods had been removed." (The Record, 24 April 1943: 1). The South Melbourne Council continued its sand mining and tipping operations in the post-war period, using land between Middle Park station and the south-east corner of the park to deposit refuse (Barnard and Keating 1996: 122) (Figure 8). In 1948 the Albert Park Committee imposed a limit on the area from which sand could be removed and gave notice to the South Melbourne Council to seek an alternative tip site (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123). By June 1949, it was reported that the “end of tipping in the Albert Park” would soon occur (The Record, 25 June 1949: 1). Despite protests from South Melbourne Council, the rubbish tip was officially closed in October of 1950 and, by 1951, former tip locations within the park were being prepared for various upgrades, including the construction of new sporting facilities (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123; The Herald, 2 June 1951: 2). (Figure 9) A plan of a last section of the tip to remain in use on the western side of Albert Park Lake and east of the railway line was drawn in 1951 by the Public Works Department after the closure of the tip in 1950 (Figure 10). The plan was prepared for the purposes of understanding the depths of the tip deposits at that time (Public Works Department 1951) (Figure 10). This plan demonstrates that the tip extended on the west side of Albert Park Lake between Aughtie Drive (now Aughtie Walk, then named Park Road or Park Drive) and the railway line, which is further confirmed by a 1951 aerial in which the impacts of sand mining are still apparent (Landata 1951) (Figure 9). Similarly, a 1994 plan of tip deposits in Albert Park Reserve by the Hassell Group provides a depiction of the full extent of the rubbish tip operated by South Melbourne Council between 1890 and 1950, covering approximately 39% of the park (Hassell Group 1994: 16). In the 1950s-1960s the area of the former Tip and part of the military barracks complex was transformed into sports playing fields and a soccer stadium (Figure 11; Figure 12).SiteCard data copied on 23/12/2024:Albert Park Reserve At the time of contact in the late 1830s, the Albert Park area was a wetland with two salt lagoons lying behind the beach. This location was once important to the Yalukit willam clan of the Bun wurrung for camping and hunting activities. Contemporary European settlers observed them hunting, gathering and constructing shelters made of bark (mia-mias) at the Albert Park lagoon, which contained wildlife, such as ducks, swans, eels, native fish, possums, reptiles, amphibians and birds (Eidelson 2014). Early European settlers followed the indigenous practice of hunting wildfowl around the Albert Park lagoon, but by the 1860s, the lagoon had become polluted from the disruption of the natural hydological system due to the expansion of urganisation and the waste management practices of the European settlers who discarded rubbish into the lagoon (Barnard and Keating 1996:17, 33). (Figure 3) Albert Park was established as a recereational reserve as early as the early 1850s (Barnard and Keating 1996: 14-15). The land around the swamp had undergone several years of vegetation clearance by 1860 and was being used as an informal grazing ground for cattle and goats, which would continue until the end of the 19th century (Barnard and Keating 1996: 16-17, 24) (Figure 3). The earliest sporting uses of Albert Park Reserve were for cricket and archery (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). In 1855, the St Kilda Cricket Club played its first matches in the southeast portion of the park, the location that would later become the St Kilda Cricket Ground (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). Likewise, the South Melbourne and Warehousemen’s cricket grounds were established to the north and east of the lagoon by 1864, with an additional location to the south being attributed to the St Kilda Bowling Club in 1865 (Barnard and Keating 1996: 21, 23). In the southwest portion of the park, the Victorian Archery Club used the space as an archery ground from 1857 until 1859 the Victorian government took over the area and established a small run for alpacas, naming it Alpaca Park or Alpaca Reserve (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18; Cooper 1931: 298; Daley 1940: 202). The Alpaca Reserve was closed down a couple of years later (Daley 1940: 202). By 1890, the cricket grounds, lagoon and broader parkland were being used for various other sports such as football, golf, horse racing, cycling, swimming and rowing (Barnard and Keating 1996: 54-55). The park was reserved by St Kilda Council on the 1st of February 1864 and was given the name Albert Park in honour of Queen Victoria’s deceased consort Prince Albert (Barnard and Keating 1996: 26). (Figure 5) After the legal formalisation of the public recreational reserve, in the 1870s the land underwent a series of developments, including the erection of fences and gates around the park, the establishment of footpaths and carriageways, and the construction of boathouses belonging to select individuals and groups, including the Albert Park Yacht Club (Neale 1996: 5). Notably, by 1876 several carriageways had been constructed throughout the reserve, including the Cecil Street Carriageway, which was later renamed to Aughtie Drive (Figure 4; Lardner and Ward 1871: Barnard and Keating 1996: 24-25). (Figure 4) One of the major changes to the natural landscape of the lagoon and wetlands occurred in the 1870s and 1880s and was the transformation of the lagoon into the Albert Park Lake. 1873 saw the beginning of works to dredge the lake to deepen sections of it, and the installation of a pumping system and water supply of fresh water from the Yarra Rvier. In 1873-1874 an “Un-watering” drain was excavated from the lake running south-east to the Cowderoy Street Drain. In 1885-1886 further dredging of the lagoon occurred, the pump from Yarra was upgraded, and dredged material was used to infill marshy ground in order to create a formal lake shoreline. (Barnard and Keating 1996: 33-35) (Figure 4; Figure 6) Albert Park Tip From 1850, sanitation and waste disposal became a major issue in Melbourne. As urban areas grew, there was urgent need for improved sewerage and waste management, including domestic waste and industrial waste from meat processing, food industries, and factories. In January 1850, a new law allowed the Melbourne City Council (MCC) to clear, pave, drain, and sewer streets as needed (Nicholls 2002: 144). Despite these measures, Melbourne remained one of the dirtiest cities in the world, partly due to the 1851 Gold Rush which saw an unprecedented influx of migrants into the new colony of Victoria (Nicholls 2002: 144). In 1850, the MCC introduced By-law 27, which imposed a ten-pound fine for anyone depositing waste like night soil or offal on public land, except in designated depots (Nicholls 2002: 144). The city's solution to the waste problem was to use large, open recreation reserves as dumpsites. These areas were chosen for their size, proximity to the city, and availability for easy waste disposal (Nicholls 2002: 144). Sections of Albert Park Reserve were used as early as 1890 as an informal dumping ground for household waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). A report published in 1890 on the state of sanitary conditions in Melbourne by Dan Astley Gresswell, the medical inspector of the new Victorian Board of Public Health, details the disposal of rubbish in South Melbourne (Gresswell 1890: 11): "A large surface of land behind the Military Barracks has recently been raised some feet with the refuse of South Melbourne. This land is being raised expressly for building purposes, and the deposition of filth there is still actively proceeding. It is true that a covering of clean earth is supposed to be regularly provided by the contractor; but it is not being thus regularly provided, and even if it were, the filth deposited will be in a state of putrescence for some years. It should, however, be stated that the South Melbourne Council are urging forward the erection of refuse-destructors, which they hope to have in operation in the course of a few months." As Gresswell specified in his report, the Fryer’s refuse destructor built by South Melbourne Council became operational later in 1890 (Gresswell 1890: 12; Nicholls 2002: 167). In 1894, it was reported in The Record (27 January 1894: 2) that mussels had been “removed to Albert Park and there intrenched”, marking one of the earliest reports of the reserve being used as a refuse site. By 1896 the South Melbourne Council was using a section of Albert Park Reserve near Canterbury Road as an official rubbish tip (Barnard and Keating 1996: 72). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the reason for depositing rubbish at Albert Park was to “form the park into healthy, grassy lawns” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). However, reports of the poor management of refuse disposal at the tip and the resulting risks to public health soon appeared. In January 1897, several complaints were made by residents who had contracted malaria from water contaminated by the Albert Park tip site (The Argus, 21 January 1897: 6). A month later, a council inspection of the site found that waste at the site was not being appropriately buried; rather, the “street scrapings and garbage were mixed together, and the smell was not at all agreeable” (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). At this time, the opposite end of the park was also being used to deposit rubbish, indicating that the tip extended further than the portion of the park near Canterbury Road (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). By 1907, additional tip sites were reported at the location of the South Melbourne Cricket Ground and the land to the east of Albert Park Lake, within the extent of the present golf course (The Age, 25 January 1907: 8; Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). During the same period, St Kilda Council was also using the southern area of the park near Fitzroy Street and at the end of Mary Street as a dumping ground for rubbish (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; The Herald, 19 April 1900: 3). The scale of the dumping at the Albert Park Tip was substantial. Estimates suggest that 400 loads of rubbish were deposited at the tip every month in the early 20th century (The Argus, Wednesday, 15 March 1911: 15), and The Age (26 May 1905, p. 8) reported that by the end of seven months, the tip was 250 yards long and 8 feet deep (approximately 228m by 2.4m). Waste was often spread in thin layers and covered with earth to aid disinfection, though this method was widely criticised. As one report stated: "The refuse was spread in a thin layer, and then covered with enough earth to ensure more or less perfect disinfection. But tipping is at best but a rough and ready method of disposing of refuse, and it is questionable, to say the least of it, whether it should be permitted in Albert Park, one of the lungs of the city, in any circumstances." (The Age, 26 May 1905: 8) A 1911 entry in The Argus (18 March 1911: 5) further elaborates on the extent and condition of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve: "The tip is situated near the lagoon, and the refuse is thrown into a low-lying portion of the park. Several acres have already been filled in, and made level with the land adjoining. There are about three acres yet to be covered with the refuse of the suburb. At the present time the vicinity of the tip is in a deplorable condition…Twelve municipal carts are continually employed from Monday morning till Saturday at midday conveying the garbage of the locality there." The poor state of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve prompted the Board of Public Health to announce that the municipalities had three years to close their rubbish tips (The Argus, 23 March 1911: 8). In 1916, the Board of Public Health temporarily gave up its efforts to close the municipal tips while reclamation work was taking place at Albert Park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the deposited refuse provided vital filling to build up the Park’s “low-lying, swampy land” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). By the end of 1920, A.E. Aughtie, the City Engineer and Surveyor of South Melbourne Council, claimed that, “the surface of a good half of the park was composed of garbage. It was noticeable, however, that on each of these areas the growth was luxuriant, both of grass and trees” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). Methods of waste disposal were varied, including the daily placement of “sand and quicklime” on the rubbish, and the burning of waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; Gresswell 1890: 12). The latter method often created unbearable conditions for nearby residents. In 1916, The Malvern Standard (13 May 1916: 3) quoted a petition from local ratepayers to have the St Kilda Municipal Tip closed: "We, the undersigned ratepayers and residents of the city of St Kilda, again respectfully beg to your attention the nuisance caused by the ‘municipal tip’ in Albert Park. The smell therefrom is at times offensive, and, when burning off takes place, we are forced to close our doors and windows with a view of mitigating the nuisance, and to prevent being nearly suffocated by the smoke." In the same year, St Kilda Council proposed the extension of their tip to the Albert Park Committee of Management, asking to be granted “a strip of two and a half chains wide north of and adjoining the existing tip” (The Prahran Telegraph, 9 December 1916: 5). A report included in the letter noted that the South Melbourne Tip would “likely continue for two years more” while the “St Kilda tip will be exhausted in three months”. However, the original portion of the tip operated by St Kilda Council was not closed until September 1921, costing £200 to reinstate the area (Cooper 1931: 105). In October 1923, St Kilda Council began operating a rubbish destructor at its depot in Inkerman Street, depositing some of the destructor’s ashes at the St Kilda end of the park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). Despite the closure of their tip at Albert Park, St Kilda Council continued to dispose of refuse at the Albert Park Tip into the 1920s, with newspapers reporting that the “St Kilda Tip” was a “perfect eyesore, being a conglomeration of tins and vegetable matter” (The Age, 21 December 1928: 7). During this period, South Melbourne Council sought to use a broader portion of the western side of Albert Park Lake to continue its rubbish tip operations, the justification for this being that this side of the park contained a large amount of sand that “could be dug out, sold off” and subsequently “filled with garbage” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). An entry in a 1928 edition of The Age (19 December 1928: 15) reported that South Melbourne Council and the Albert Park Committee of Management “derived a big revenue from the sale of sand”. A 1931 aerial of Albert Park Reserve indicates the extent of sand mining and likely rubbish deposition at that time, particularly within the project area boundaries (Landata 1931; Figure 7). Evidence of sand mining can be seen as the white patches of disturbed ground and the pale linear marks are likely backfilled trenches from sand mining and refuse (Figure 7). While protests from residents and local councils regarding the rubbish tip at Albert Park were constant throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the South Melbourne Council continued operations throughout this period (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90; The Herald 28 February 1946: 10). In 1943, there were reports of animal produce and “condemned” food waste dumped at the tip site, as well as scavenging: "Condemned food had been dumped on the tip, but every care had been taken to prevent it from being salvaged and used for human consumption. It was possible, but hardly likely, that trespassers on the tip had moved some at night, but every possible precaution was taken to prevent this, and there was no evidence that any goods had been removed." (The Record, 24 April 1943: 1). The South Melbourne Council continued its sand mining and tipping operations in the post-war period, using land between Middle Park station and the south-east corner of the park to deposit refuse (Barnard and Keating 1996: 122) (Figure 8). In 1948 the Albert Park Committee imposed a limit on the area from which sand could be removed and gave notice to the South Melbourne Council to seek an alternative tip site (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123). By June 1949, it was reported that the “end of tipping in the Albert Park” would soon occur (The Record, 25 June 1949: 1). Despite protests from South Melbourne Council, the rubbish tip was officially closed in October of 1950 and, by 1951, former tip locations within the park were being prepared for various upgrades, including the construction of new sporting facilities (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123; The Herald, 2 June 1951: 2). (Figure 9) A plan of a last section of the tip to remain in use on the western side of Albert Park Lake and east of the railway line was drawn in 1951 by the Public Works Department after the closure of the tip in 1950 (Figure 10). The plan was prepared for the purposes of understanding the depths of the tip deposits at that time (Public Works Department 1951) (Figure 10). This plan demonstrates that the tip extended on the west side of Albert Park Lake between Aughtie Drive (now Aughtie Walk, then named Park Road or Park Drive) and the railway line, which is further confirmed by a 1951 aerial in which the impacts of sand mining are still apparent (Landata 1951) (Figure 9). Similarly, a 1994 plan of tip deposits in Albert Park Reserve by the Hassell Group provides a depiction of the full extent of the rubbish tip operated by South Melbourne Council between 1890 and 1950, covering approximately 39% of the park (Hassell Group 1994: 16). In the 1950s-1960s the area of the former Tip and part of the military barracks complex was transformed into sports playing fields and a soccer stadium (Figure 11; Figure 12).SiteCard data copied on 23/12/2024:Albert Park Reserve At the time of contact in the late 1830s, the Albert Park area was a wetland with two salt lagoons lying behind the beach. This location was once important to the Yalukit willam clan of the Bun wurrung for camping and hunting activities. Contemporary European settlers observed them hunting, gathering and constructing shelters made of bark (mia-mias) at the Albert Park lagoon, which contained wildlife, such as ducks, swans, eels, native fish, possums, reptiles, amphibians and birds (Eidelson 2014). Early European settlers followed the indigenous practice of hunting wildfowl around the Albert Park lagoon, but by the 1860s, the lagoon had become polluted from the disruption of the natural hydological system due to the expansion of urganisation and the waste management practices of the European settlers who discarded rubbish into the lagoon (Barnard and Keating 1996:17, 33). (Figure 3) Albert Park was established as a recereational reserve as early as the early 1850s (Barnard and Keating 1996: 14-15). The land around the swamp had undergone several years of vegetation clearance by 1860 and was being used as an informal grazing ground for cattle and goats, which would continue until the end of the 19th century (Barnard and Keating 1996: 16-17, 24) (Figure 3). The earliest sporting uses of Albert Park Reserve were for cricket and archery (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). In 1855, the St Kilda Cricket Club played its first matches in the southeast portion of the park, the location that would later become the St Kilda Cricket Ground (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18). Likewise, the South Melbourne and Warehousemen’s cricket grounds were established to the north and east of the lagoon by 1864, with an additional location to the south being attributed to the St Kilda Bowling Club in 1865 (Barnard and Keating 1996: 21, 23). In the southwest portion of the park, the Victorian Archery Club used the space as an archery ground from 1857 until 1859 the Victorian government took over the area and established a small run for alpacas, naming it Alpaca Park or Alpaca Reserve (Barnard and Keating 1996: 18; Cooper 1931: 298; Daley 1940: 202). The Alpaca Reserve was closed down a couple of years later (Daley 1940: 202). By 1890, the cricket grounds, lagoon and broader parkland were being used for various other sports such as football, golf, horse racing, cycling, swimming and rowing (Barnard and Keating 1996: 54-55). The park was reserved by St Kilda Council on the 1st of February 1864 and was given the name Albert Park in honour of Queen Victoria’s deceased consort Prince Albert (Barnard and Keating 1996: 26). (Figure 5) After the legal formalisation of the public recreational reserve, in the 1870s the land underwent a series of developments, including the erection of fences and gates around the park, the establishment of footpaths and carriageways, and the construction of boathouses belonging to select individuals and groups, including the Albert Park Yacht Club (Neale 1996: 5). Notably, by 1876 several carriageways had been constructed throughout the reserve, including the Cecil Street Carriageway, which was later renamed to Aughtie Drive (Figure 4; Lardner and Ward 1871: Barnard and Keating 1996: 24-25). (Figure 4) One of the major changes to the natural landscape of the lagoon and wetlands occurred in the 1870s and 1880s and was the transformation of the lagoon into the Albert Park Lake. 1873 saw the beginning of works to dredge the lake to deepen sections of it, and the installation of a pumping system and water supply of fresh water from the Yarra Rvier. In 1873-1874 an “Un-watering” drain was excavated from the lake running south-east to the Cowderoy Street Drain. In 1885-1886 further dredging of the lagoon occurred, the pump from Yarra was upgraded, and dredged material was used to infill marshy ground in order to create a formal lake shoreline. (Barnard and Keating 1996: 33-35) (Figure 4; Figure 6) Albert Park Tip From 1850, sanitation and waste disposal became a major issue in Melbourne. As urban areas grew, there was urgent need for improved sewerage and waste management, including domestic waste and industrial waste from meat processing, food industries, and factories. In January 1850, a new law allowed the Melbourne City Council (MCC) to clear, pave, drain, and sewer streets as needed (Nicholls 2002: 144). Despite these measures, Melbourne remained one of the dirtiest cities in the world, partly due to the 1851 Gold Rush which saw an unprecedented influx of migrants into the new colony of Victoria (Nicholls 2002: 144). In 1850, the MCC introduced By-law 27, which imposed a ten-pound fine for anyone depositing waste like night soil or offal on public land, except in designated depots (Nicholls 2002: 144). The city's solution to the waste problem was to use large, open recreation reserves as dumpsites. These areas were chosen for their size, proximity to the city, and availability for easy waste disposal (Nicholls 2002: 144). Sections of Albert Park Reserve were used as early as 1890 as an informal dumping ground for household waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). A report published in 1890 on the state of sanitary conditions in Melbourne by Dan Astley Gresswell, the medical inspector of the new Victorian Board of Public Health, details the disposal of rubbish in South Melbourne (Gresswell 1890: 11): "A large surface of land behind the Military Barracks has recently been raised some feet with the refuse of South Melbourne. This land is being raised expressly for building purposes, and the deposition of filth there is still actively proceeding. It is true that a covering of clean earth is supposed to be regularly provided by the contractor; but it is not being thus regularly provided, and even if it were, the filth deposited will be in a state of putrescence for some years. It should, however, be stated that the South Melbourne Council are urging forward the erection of refuse-destructors, which they hope to have in operation in the course of a few months." As Gresswell specified in his report, the Fryer’s refuse destructor built by South Melbourne Council became operational later in 1890 (Gresswell 1890: 12; Nicholls 2002: 167). In 1894, it was reported in The Record (27 January 1894: 2) that mussels had been “removed to Albert Park and there intrenched”, marking one of the earliest reports of the reserve being used as a refuse site. By 1896 the South Melbourne Council was using a section of Albert Park Reserve near Canterbury Road as an official rubbish tip (Barnard and Keating 1996: 72). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the reason for depositing rubbish at Albert Park was to “form the park into healthy, grassy lawns” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 64). However, reports of the poor management of refuse disposal at the tip and the resulting risks to public health soon appeared. In January 1897, several complaints were made by residents who had contracted malaria from water contaminated by the Albert Park tip site (The Argus, 21 January 1897: 6). A month later, a council inspection of the site found that waste at the site was not being appropriately buried; rather, the “street scrapings and garbage were mixed together, and the smell was not at all agreeable” (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). At this time, the opposite end of the park was also being used to deposit rubbish, indicating that the tip extended further than the portion of the park near Canterbury Road (The Record, 6 February 1897: 3). By 1907, additional tip sites were reported at the location of the South Melbourne Cricket Ground and the land to the east of Albert Park Lake, within the extent of the present golf course (The Age, 25 January 1907: 8; Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). During the same period, St Kilda Council was also using the southern area of the park near Fitzroy Street and at the end of Mary Street as a dumping ground for rubbish (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; The Herald, 19 April 1900: 3). The scale of the dumping at the Albert Park Tip was substantial. Estimates suggest that 400 loads of rubbish were deposited at the tip every month in the early 20th century (The Argus, Wednesday, 15 March 1911: 15), and The Age (26 May 1905, p. 8) reported that by the end of seven months, the tip was 250 yards long and 8 feet deep (approximately 228m by 2.4m). Waste was often spread in thin layers and covered with earth to aid disinfection, though this method was widely criticised. As one report stated: "The refuse was spread in a thin layer, and then covered with enough earth to ensure more or less perfect disinfection. But tipping is at best but a rough and ready method of disposing of refuse, and it is questionable, to say the least of it, whether it should be permitted in Albert Park, one of the lungs of the city, in any circumstances." (The Age, 26 May 1905: 8) A 1911 entry in The Argus (18 March 1911: 5) further elaborates on the extent and condition of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve: "The tip is situated near the lagoon, and the refuse is thrown into a low-lying portion of the park. Several acres have already been filled in, and made level with the land adjoining. There are about three acres yet to be covered with the refuse of the suburb. At the present time the vicinity of the tip is in a deplorable condition…Twelve municipal carts are continually employed from Monday morning till Saturday at midday conveying the garbage of the locality there." The poor state of the rubbish tip at Albert Park Reserve prompted the Board of Public Health to announce that the municipalities had three years to close their rubbish tips (The Argus, 23 March 1911: 8). In 1916, the Board of Public Health temporarily gave up its efforts to close the municipal tips while reclamation work was taking place at Albert Park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). The South Melbourne Council claimed that the deposited refuse provided vital filling to build up the Park’s “low-lying, swampy land” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). By the end of 1920, A.E. Aughtie, the City Engineer and Surveyor of South Melbourne Council, claimed that, “the surface of a good half of the park was composed of garbage. It was noticeable, however, that on each of these areas the growth was luxuriant, both of grass and trees” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). Methods of waste disposal were varied, including the daily placement of “sand and quicklime” on the rubbish, and the burning of waste (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89; Gresswell 1890: 12). The latter method often created unbearable conditions for nearby residents. In 1916, The Malvern Standard (13 May 1916: 3) quoted a petition from local ratepayers to have the St Kilda Municipal Tip closed: "We, the undersigned ratepayers and residents of the city of St Kilda, again respectfully beg to your attention the nuisance caused by the ‘municipal tip’ in Albert Park. The smell therefrom is at times offensive, and, when burning off takes place, we are forced to close our doors and windows with a view of mitigating the nuisance, and to prevent being nearly suffocated by the smoke." In the same year, St Kilda Council proposed the extension of their tip to the Albert Park Committee of Management, asking to be granted “a strip of two and a half chains wide north of and adjoining the existing tip” (The Prahran Telegraph, 9 December 1916: 5). A report included in the letter noted that the South Melbourne Tip would “likely continue for two years more” while the “St Kilda tip will be exhausted in three months”. However, the original portion of the tip operated by St Kilda Council was not closed until September 1921, costing £200 to reinstate the area (Cooper 1931: 105). In October 1923, St Kilda Council began operating a rubbish destructor at its depot in Inkerman Street, depositing some of the destructor’s ashes at the St Kilda end of the park (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). Despite the closure of their tip at Albert Park, St Kilda Council continued to dispose of refuse at the Albert Park Tip into the 1920s, with newspapers reporting that the “St Kilda Tip” was a “perfect eyesore, being a conglomeration of tins and vegetable matter” (The Age, 21 December 1928: 7). During this period, South Melbourne Council sought to use a broader portion of the western side of Albert Park Lake to continue its rubbish tip operations, the justification for this being that this side of the park contained a large amount of sand that “could be dug out, sold off” and subsequently “filled with garbage” (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90). An entry in a 1928 edition of The Age (19 December 1928: 15) reported that South Melbourne Council and the Albert Park Committee of Management “derived a big revenue from the sale of sand”. A 1931 aerial of Albert Park Reserve indicates the extent of sand mining and likely rubbish deposition at that time, particularly within the project area boundaries (Landata 1931; Figure 7). Evidence of sand mining can be seen as the white patches of disturbed ground and the pale linear marks are likely backfilled trenches from sand mining and refuse (Figure 7). While protests from residents and local councils regarding the rubbish tip at Albert Park were constant throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the South Melbourne Council continued operations throughout this period (Barnard and Keating 1996: 90; The Herald 28 February 1946: 10). In 1943, there were reports of animal produce and “condemned” food waste dumped at the tip site, as well as scavenging: "Condemned food had been dumped on the tip, but every care had been taken to prevent it from being salvaged and used for human consumption. It was possible, but hardly likely, that trespassers on the tip had moved some at night, but every possible precaution was taken to prevent this, and there was no evidence that any goods had been removed." (The Record, 24 April 1943: 1). The South Melbourne Council continued its sand mining and tipping operations in the post-war period, using land between Middle Park station and the south-east corner of the park to deposit refuse (Barnard and Keating 1996: 122) (Figure 8). In 1948 the Albert Park Committee imposed a limit on the area from which sand could be removed and gave notice to the South Melbourne Council to seek an alternative tip site (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123). By June 1949, it was reported that the “end of tipping in the Albert Park” would soon occur (The Record, 25 June 1949: 1). Despite protests from South Melbourne Council, the rubbish tip was officially closed in October of 1950 and, by 1951, former tip locations within the park were being prepared for various upgrades, including the construction of new sporting facilities (Barnard and Keating 1996: 123; The Herald, 2 June 1951: 2). (Figure 9) A plan of a last section of the tip to remain in use on the western side of Albert Park Lake and east of the railway line was drawn in 1951 by the Public Works Department after the closure of the tip in 1950 (Figure 10). The plan was prepared for the purposes of understanding the depths of the tip deposits at that time (Public Works Department 1951) (Figure 10). This plan demonstrates that the tip extended on the west side of Albert Park Lake between Aughtie Drive (now Aughtie Walk, then named Park Road or Park Drive) and the railway line, which is further confirmed by a 1951 aerial in which the impacts of sand mining are still apparent (Landata 1951) (Figure 9). Similarly, a 1994 plan of tip deposits in Albert Park Reserve by the Hassell Group provides a depiction of the full extent of the rubbish tip operated by South Melbourne Council between 1890 and 1950, covering approximately 39% of the park (Hassell Group 1994: 16). In the 1950s-1960s the area of the former Tip and part of the military barracks complex was transformed into sports playing fields and a soccer stadium (Figure 11; Figure 12).SiteCard data copied on 23/12/2024:Albert Park Reserve At the time of contact in the late 1830s, the Albert Park area was a wetland with two salt lagoons lying behind the beach. This location was once important to the Yalukit willam clan of the Bun wurrung for camping and hunting activities. Contemporary European settlers observed them hunting, gathering and constructing shelters made of bark (mia-mias) at the Albert Park lagoon, which contained wildlife, such as ducks, swans, eels, native fish, possums, reptiles, amphibians and birds (Eidelson 2014). Early European settlers followed the indigenous practice of huntin

    Interpretation of Site

    FORMER ALBERT PARK TIP AND BARRACKS SITE - Interpretation of Site

    The use of Albert Park for landfill refuse disposal began in the 1890s but it is unknown exactly where the activity began in the park reserve. It is known from South Melbourne Council archival documents, that the council were mining sand from the south-western side of the lake and also disposing of municipal waste in the minded areas in the 1920s until they were forced to stop this practice in 1950 (see Place History above; Barnard and Keating 1996). The documentary evidence in the form of archival aerial photographs of the site from 1931, 1945 and 1951 confirm the extent of ground disturbance caused by sand mining and landfill tip activities (Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9). These photographs were georeferenced in a GIS, and the areas of disturbance were mapped and used to define the updated VHI site extent (Figure 2). The documentary evidence about the Albert Park Tip suggests that the tip and sand mining was restricted to an area between Aughtie Walk and Canterbury Road (Barnard and Keating 1996). However, the 1931 aerial photograph indicates an area of ground disturbance between Aughtie Walk and the lake bank (Figure 7). It may be possible that areas of ground around the lake edge could contain historical artefacts. It was reported in the late 1920s that an area of low-lying ground on the western side of the lake, between the lake edge and the road, was in-filled with waste and fill material to raise the ground level and create a defined lake edge (Barnard and Keating 1996: 89). For this reason, a section of VHI site extent for the former Tip has been located between the lake edge and Aughtie Walk, based on the documentary evidence and the area of ground disturbance present on the 1931 aerial photograph (Figure 2). Recent geotechnical testing on the north-eastern and south-western sides of Aughtie Drive close to the Albert Park Pit Building, confirmed the presence of fill deposits overlying the natural sand deposits and that contained anthropogenic material consistent with archaeological refuse deposits (Ettrich 2023; 2024). The fill was encountered at 0.2m below ground level (bgl) and extended to a depth of between 3m to 6.10m bgl. This fill was characterised as recent landfill and was described as very loose to medium density, dark brown and black organic silty sand with trace amounts of brick, paper, gravel, bone and fragments of glass, ceramic, plastic and metal. Natural deposits of sand were encountered, identified as Port Melbourne Sand unit, below this fill deposit. The Port Melbourne Sand (encountered from 3m to 6.10m bgl), encompassed grey and pale brown sand, locally interbedded with thin clay layers, and was found to range from very loose to dense in nature. The underlying Coode Island Silt was described as grey and dark yellow brown clay, ranging from very soft to hard in consistency, whilst the Fishermens Bend Silt comprised firm to stiff cream mottled black sandy clay. Groundwater was observed in all boreholes and levels ranged between 1.55m and 1.8 m bgl. (Ettrich 2024). The results of this testing indicate that the upper fill deposits present from 0.2m bgl down to between 3m and 6.1m bgl are the former Albert Park Tip refuse deposits. In early 2024, two archaeological trenches were mechanically excavated within the south-eastern end of the VHI site extent, as required under a Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP). Trenches MT5 and MT6 were excavated by archaeologists Dr Sam Dix and Georgina Ashley from Biosis, near the baseball courts at Hockey Drive in 2024 and were 7 x 7m in size (S. Dix, personal communication, 22 August 2024). The two trenches were located where the former military barracks was present in the 1940s-1970s. The stratigraphy from the MT5 and MT6 trenches confirmed that 1 to 2m of historical tip refuse deposits and introduced fill is present in the south-eastern end of the project area (S. Dix, personal communication, 22 August 2024; Dix 2024). The historical rubbish deposits were present in trenches cut into the natural Port Melbourne Sand deposits. As discussed in the Place History above, the South Melbourne Council quarried sand from this area and backfilled the trenches with municipal waste in the 1920s-1950s (Figure 13, Figure 14). The results of the 2024 archaeological trenches showed that in some places the historical tip deposits overlaid the sand as well as being cut into it. The results also confirmed that there were numerous layers of rubbish, some of which had been burnt, and then layers of sand laid in between. Thousands of artefacts were recovered from the two trenches. The results from these trenches will shed light onto the site formation and management of the former tip, as well as information about the former residences and businesses in South Melbourne from the artefact analysis. In light of the results of the CHMP archaeological trenches and the historical research into where the tip landfill and sand quarrying was done, it is highly likely that the fill deposits identified in the proposed extension to the VHI site extent around Aughtie Drive and the Pit Building in the 2023 and 2024 geotechnical boreholes are historical rubbish tip deposits. This is supported by the findings of fragments of brick, paper, gravel, bone, glass, ceramic, plastic and metal in this stratum.The results of both the CHMP trenches and the recent geotechnical testing both confirm that although the area of the former tip has been redeveloped in the late 20th century, first in the 1950s-1960s for sports playing fields, and then parts of it redeveloped in the 1990s and 2000s for the F1 Grand Prix event infrastructure, archaeological deposits and artefact remain present in the ground below clean imported topsoil layers for the playing fields (Figure 13, Figure 14). The Albert Park Tip and the St Kilda Corporation Tip The information from the 2024 CHMP trenches are from a location that was used for sand mining and refuse disposal prior to 1931, since the 1931 aerial photograph does not show any ground disturbance in that location (Figure 7) and the 1945-1979 aerial photographs show that miltary barracks buildings occupied this part of the site until that time. The aerial photographs demonstrate that the waste disposal activities must have ceased in the location of the CHMP trenches by 1931. This suggests that the refuse deposits in this part of the site may have been a separate activity that was possibly managed by the St Kilda Corporation, rather than the Albert Park Tip managed by South Melbourne Council. The 1871 map of the site shows the municipal boundary (Figure 4). Further archival research into where the St Kilda Corporation tip was located may be possible; however, archaeological investigations may contribute significantly to confirm where the two tips were located and the differences between them. The larger portion of the former Albert Park Tip site to the north-west of Hockey Drive dates from at least the 1920s and 1930s until the 1940s to 1950s, based on the documentary and aerial photographic evidence. The geotechnical results indicate that the tip deposits in this part of the site vary in depth, but in some locations are likely to be up to 5.8m thick (Ettrich 2024). This portion of the site is definitely the Albert Park Tip managed by South Melbourne Council. Any results from excavations in this part of the site would be significant and stratigraphic information and analysis of artefactual material would confirm the waste management practices of the South Melbourne Council, information about the consumption and discard practices and activities of the residents and occupants of that municipal area. Confirmation of how early the landfill and tip activities occurred within Albert Park may only be possible from archaeological investigations. Comparison of the artefacts from the CHMP trenches and any excavations undertaken to the north-west of Hockey Drive would be necessary to determine the difference in when the refuse layers were deposited and if they contain material from different areas, i.e. St Kilda versus the South Melbourne area.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    FORMER ALBERT PARK TIP AND BARRACKS SITE - Heritage Inventory Description

    The Former Albert Park Barracks and Tip Site currently comprises a sporting precinct,including Wesley College Hockey and Tennis Facility/Albert Park Hockey and Tennis Centre, Harry Trott Oval, Wesley College Sporting Facility,Ross Gregory Oval, Lindsay Hassett Oval, South Melbourne District Sports Club, Power House Amateur Football Club, a baseball field, two tennis courts, two unidentified footy ovals, and the southern portion of Aughtie Drive. The site is located at the southern end of Albert Park Lake SiteCard data copied on 24/12/2024: The archaeological site contains archaeological deposits, artefacts and features that were associated with the former municipal landfill tips established by the South Melbourne Council and the St Kilda Corporation; known as the Albert Park Tip and the St Kilda Corporation Tip respectively. The archaeological site was formed from the late 19th and early 20th century for landfill refuse disposal and sand mining activities. The south-eastern half of the site was also occupied by Australian Defence force military barracks and Defence Signals Directorate from c.1939 throughout World War 2 and up until 1979 and may contain archaeological features and deposits associated with this miltary occupation. The site is within the Albert Park reserve, extending along the south-western side of the lake around from the Beaurepaire Pavilion Carpark at the north-east end to Village Green Drive, and Ross Gregory Drive and Lakeside Drive at the eastern and south-eastern end. The land within the proposed VHI archaeological site extent is currently occupied by a series of flat, grassed playing fields, Aughtie Drive roadway, Aughtie Walk paved shared-user path, the F1 Grand Prix motor race Pit Building, paved outdoor sports courts and two pedestrian tunnels passing below Aughtie Drive. The geology of this location is composed of layers of fill material overlying natural sand dune and lagoonal silty sand deposits known as the Port Melbourne Sands, below which are Coode Island Silt deposits and then Fishermans Bend Silt deposits (Ettrich 2023; 2024). The former Albert Park Tip refuse deposits are fill layers overlying and intrusive into the natural sand deposits. This is an update to the VHI site card for H7822-2345 that was originally prepared in March 2024 by Sam Dix of Biosis (Dix 2024). This update has been prepared to provide additional information about the archaeological deposits within the site and the extent of the former Albert Park Tip site. A revised VHI site extent (curtilage) is proposed, extending further to the north-west as the result of additional information discovered during recent background research. (Figure 1) The revised site extent is shown on Figure 1 and Figure 2. The areas where previous ground disturbance has been mapped from georeferenced archival aerial photos from 1931, 1945 and 1951 are shown on Figure 2 and the revised site extent has been based on this analysis.
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