WHITEHALL STREET BOTTLE DUMP

105A WHITEHALL STREET FOOTSCRAY, MARIBYRNONG CITY

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • History

    WHITEHALL STREET BOTTLE DUMP - History

    Land sales took place shortly after the Footscray township was surveyed in the late 1840s. Soon after Footscray became a busy shipping centre with ships laden with produce unloading at the wharves then anchoring in Saltwater River to reload with Footscray bluestone which would serve as ballast for the ship (Carstairs & Lane, 1988, p. 1). This stone could then be sold and used as building material across early Victoria. Directly northeast of the Parker Street Reserve, a 1930 Plan of the Port of Melbourne (Plate 1) shows, the block bounded by Napier, Moreland, Parker and Maribyrnong Streets as being occupied by 'Stone Cutting Works'. Along the western boundary of Parker Street Reserve, east of Moreland Street, Wharves occupied the river frontage. Noxious trade industries quickly sprung up around the Parker Street Reserve and along the Maribyrnong River. The mix of industry in and adjacent to the Whitehall Street Bottle Dump included a tannery, a stone cutter, a cooperage, gas works, a soap and candle factory (Butler, 1989). It is likely that the Whitehall Street Bottle Dump is related to one or more of these industries as the Parker Street Reserve appears to have remained as open reserve land through the nineteenth and into the twenty-first century

    Interpretation of Site

    WHITEHALL STREET BOTTLE DUMP - Interpretation of Site

    Due to the manner in which the site was located, little information is available as to its development. Stratigraphy identifiable through the open cut of the bottle dump shows historical material to be mixed throughout four stratigraphic layers between 0.5 and 1.5 metres in depth. This may be the result of multiple layers of burial, or the result of disturbance activities which have occurred in the area impacting on the dump site location. The site represents a bottle dump which is likely to have belonged to one of the near by industrial or residential buildings in the area. Due to the limited material culture that could be recovered from the site, it is not possible to assume that the bottle dump is residential or industrial at this point in time.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    WHITEHALL STREET BOTTLE DUMP - Heritage Inventory Description

    The site is located within road reserve along Whitehall Street and the ParkerStreet Reserve. The site was identified during works associated with the Truck Action Plan Stage 1 works which included installing underground pipes along Whitehall Street within the road reserve and into the Parker Street Reserve. The site was uncovered during the mechanical excavation works associated with the works and no formal archaeological excavation or salvage works were able to be undertaken. Following an inspection of the site including the collection of a number of artefacts (see attached catalogue) the place was identified as a bottle dump which includes several layers of debris dumping. The installation of a number of services within and atop the bottle dump suggests that this section of the site has undergone disturbance activities at several times since its deposition.

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