Docklands, Victoria
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Docklands is an inner-city suburb in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...
, on the western end of the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
. Docklands had a population of 15,495 at the 2021 census. Primarily a waterfront area centred on the banks of the
Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...
, it is bounded by Spencer Street, Wurundjeri Way and Montague Street to the east, the Yarra River and Moonee Ponds Creek to the west, Footscray Road and Dynon Road to the north and Lorimer Street, Boundary Road and the
West Gate Freeway The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong (via the Princes Freeway) and Melbourne's western suburbs to ...
across the Yarra River to the south. The site of modern-day Docklands was originally swamp land that in the 1880s became a bustling dock area as part of the
Port of Melbourne The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at th ...
, with an extensive network of wharfs, heavy rail infrastructure and light industry. Following the
containerisation Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of uni ...
of shipping traffic, Docklands fell into disuse and by the 1990s was virtually abandoned, making it the focal point of Melbourne's underground
rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
scene. The construction of
Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...
in the late 1990s attracted developer interest in the area, and urban renewal began in earnest in 2000 with several independent privately developed areas overseen by
VicUrban Places Victoria, was the Victorian Government's property development agency delivering urban renewal. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Places Victoria developed surplus government land. In April 2017, Places Victoria combined with Major Projects ...
, an agency of the
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...
. Docklands subsequently experienced an apartment boom and became a sought-after business address, attracting the national headquarters of, among others, the
National Australia Bank National Australia Bank Limited (abbreviated NAB, branded and stylised as nab) is one of the four largest Banking in Australia, financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "Big Four (banking), The Big Four") in terms of mar ...
,
ANZ Bank The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly known as ANZ Bank, is a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fo ...
,
Myer Myer (stylised MYER) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and child ...
, David Jones,
Medibank Medibank is an Australian private health insurance provider headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria. It is Australia's largest private health insurance provider, covering around 4.2 million customers in 2024. Medibank initially ...
and the
Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Government of Australia, Australian Government that is responsible for providing Weather forecasting, weather forecasts and Meteorology, meteorological services to Australia a ...
, as well as the regional headquarters for
Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and television networks
Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...
and Seven. Known for its contemporary architecture, the suburb is home to a number of heritage buildings that have been retained for
adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...
, and is also the site of landmarks such as the Docklands Stadium,
Southern Cross railway station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins and La Trobe Street, La Tr ...
and the Melbourne Star. Although still incomplete, Docklands' developer-centric planning has split public opinion with some lamenting its lack of green open space, pedestrian activity, transport links and culture.


History


Early history

Before the foundation of Melbourne, it was a large
wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
area of the
Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...
estuary consisting of a large salt water lagoon and a giant swamp at the mouth of the Moonee Ponds Creek. It was one of the open hunting grounds of the
Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Aboriginal peoples, Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language, Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the traditional owners of the Yarra River Valley, covering much of the present location of ...
people, who created
midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...
s around the edges of the lake. The lake was populated by fauna including native
black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...
s and wild ducks as well and earlier, with its connection to Hobsons Bay, such marine life as snapper and swordfish. In 1835, Vandemonian
John Batman John Batman (21 January 18016 May 1839) was an Australian Pastoral farming, grazier, entrepreneur and explorer, who had a prominent role in the foundation of Melbourne, founding of Melbourne. He also was involved in many attacks against Indigen ...
established a home on
Batman's Hill Batman's Hill in Melbourne, Australia was named for the Vandemonian adventurer and grazier John Batman. Now removed, the hill was located to the south of today's Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins Street and Southern Cross railway station, and i ...
, marking the westernmost point of a new settlement. The rest of the area, however, remained largely unused for decades. The swamp, known as Batman's Swamp, and later West Melbourne Swamp was a major source of nuisance to the colony, considered ugly and unsanitary and produced a strong unpleasant smell. The first plans to reclaim the swamp issue were presented on 5 May 1858 by engineer Alexander Kennedy Smith to the Philosophical Institute of Victoria and proposed a system of three canals and a road to Footscray. While the reclamation did not proceed, the road did. Swamp Road (now Dynon Road) was completed in 1863 and included two bridges across the north of the lagoon. The advent of rail infrastructure in the late 1860s saw the city's industry gradually expand into the area. By 1878, Moonee Ponds Creek became a series of drainage canals with a system of bluestone constructions helping to funnel the salty water further south. The earliest extensive plans to develop the area was in the 1870s, when a plan was prepared to extend the
Hoddle Grid The Hoddle Grid is the contemporary name given to the approximately grid of streets that form the Melbourne central business district, Australia. Bounded by Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street, and Spencer Street, it lies at a ...
westward, following the curve of the Yarra River and effectively doubling its size. The plan proposed several gridlike blocks with an ornamental public garden and lake in the shape of the United Kingdom, occupying the site of the salt lake. However, expansion of the grid westward was abandoned in favor of a northward extension.


Construction of Victoria Dock

Under the guidance of British civil engineer John Coode, a major engineering project began in the 1880s to reroute the course of the Yarra River, which resulted in the widening of the river for shipping and the creation of a new Victoria Dock (the name was previously used by one at Queens Bridge as early as the 1850s). The dock was lined with wharves and light industry grew around the nearby western rail yards of Spencer Street railway station (now Southern Cross railway station), which were used for freighting the goods inland.


Early to mid 20th century: From West Melbourne swamp to slum and new shipping port

During the wars, Victoria Dock was used as the main port for naval vessels and most of the Victorian troops returned from both wars to the docks. In 1924 the Victorian Railways engineer Edward Ballard prepared designs for a new freight yards including a new Melbourne Yard and Spencer Street Yard and West Melbourne Dock (later Victoria Harbour) and an extension of Dudley Street westward and a new main road through West Melbourne which would later become Docklands Highway with land to be transferred to the Melbourne Harbour Trust. During the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
era, the area along Moonee Ponds Creek was home to a large rubbish tip. Just across the creek (near the site of Costco) were Dudley Mansions, a notorious slum of half a dozen homes constructed from refuse which
Frederick Oswald Barnett Frederick Oswald Barnett (1883–1972) was an Australian social reformer. He was responsible for raising public awareness of inner-city poverty and leading the campaign for improved housing conditions. Early life Born on 28 September 1883 in Bruns ...
began photographing and actively campaigning against. Construction of the new Victoria Harbour took place over the following decades and with shipping was moved from the Yarra
turning basin A turning basin, winding basin or swinging basin is a wider body of water, either located at the end of a ship canal or in a port to allow cargo ships to turn and reverse their direction of travel, or to enable long narrow barges in a canal to tur ...
at Queensbridge Victoria Dock became Melbourne's busiest.


Disuse and rave epicentre

With the introduction of
containerisation Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of uni ...
of Victoria's shipping industry in the 1950s and 1960s, the
docks The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engli ...
along the Yarra River, east of the modern Bolte Bridge, and within Victoria Harbour immediately to the west of the central business district, became inadequate for the new
container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...
s. The creation of Appleton Dock and Swanson Dock in an area west of the Moonee Ponds Creek, now known as West Melbourne, closer to the mouth of the Yarra, became the focus of container shipping, effectively rendering redundant a vast amount of vacant
inner-city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...
land to the immediate west of Melbourne's CBD. Docklands became notable during the 1990s for its underground
rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
dance scene. The growth of the warehouse rave scene carried on from the earlier gay and lesbian warehouse party scene which had started in the early 1980s, and continued in the Docklands through parties such as The ALSO Foundation's Red Raw, Winterdaze, New Year's Eve, and Resurrection dance parties. The site was also host to a number of dance parties by Future Entertainment and Hardware Corporation. DJs and performers such as
Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. Van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly added category of Best Dance/Electron ...
,
Carl Cox Carl Andrew Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ, motorsport team owner and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has perfor ...
,
Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan), also known as "the Wizard", is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. In the late 1980s Mills founded the techno collective Underground Resistance with fellow Detroit techno pro ...
,
Frankie Knuckles Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. (January 18, 1955 – March 31, 2014), known professionally as Frankie Knuckles, was an American DJ, record producer, and remixer. He played an important role in developing and popularizing house music, a genre of mus ...
, David Morales, Marshall Jefferson and BT headlined these events. The biggest event hosted, in terms of attendance, was the "Welcome 2000" New Year's Eve dance party hosted on 31 December 1999.


Urban renewal

Docklands was seen as a large urban blight by the Cain Jr. State Government. Property consultants JLW Advisory carried out the first market demand assessment of the site. The size of the Melbourne Docklands area meant that political influences were inescapable. The Docklands project was on top of the government's agenda, however, due to the poor condition of the wharf infrastructure, a further investment was required to initiate the project, which the government at the time could not afford. Nevertheless, the Docklands project stayed on the drawing board, but with little progress. In 1989, several architectural firms were invited to discuss how the area could best serve the Melbourne public. In 1990, the Docklands Task Force was established to devise an infrastructure strategy and conduct the public consultation process. The Committee For Melbourne, a not for profit organization that brought together the private sector of Melbourne for a public good, was pursuing another planning strategy. It involved a bid for the 1996 Olympic Games and another proposal to turn the Docklands into a technology city, known as the Multifunction Polis (MFP). Both bids fell through in late 1990. Nevertheless, the Committee For Melbourne's approach became the preferred model in the proceeding strategies for the Docklands development, leading to the formation of the Docklands Authority in July 1991.


Kennett era and ARM Masterplan

With a government running in budget deficits, not much progress was made on the Docklands project. In late 1992,
Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian former politician who served as the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party from 1982 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1999, and the Member for ...
was elected
Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
. Kennett instituted many changes and turned the government's financial position around. He then embarked on a multitude of projects, which included Docklands. It was politically imperative to get the project rolling, the Docklands Authority opted for the concept of having infrastructure funded by the developers. The development industry supported this, and claimed that the project would be more efficient. Docklands was divided into sections or precincts, which were to be tendered to private companies to be developed. May 1996 saw the relaunch of the tender process. Few restrictions were applied to the bids from developers, and as the vision was to make Docklands 'Melbourne's Millennium Mark', the key criterion for a successful bid was to get projects going by 2000. It did not take long for the realisation that the lack of government coordination in infrastructure planning would create problems. Developers would not invest into public infrastructure, where benefits would flow on to an adjacent property. This was corrected by allowing developers to negotiate for infrastructure funding with the government. The Docklands Village precinct was planned for a residential and commercial mixed development, but, in late 1996, that plan was scrapped when it was announced a private football stadium would be built on the site. The site was chosen for its easy access to the then Spencer Street station (now Southern Cross station), and it was intended to be an anchor for the entire project and provide for a clear signal to the long-awaited start of the Docklands project. However, the stadium also created a huge barrier between the City and Docklands. Work on the Bolte Bridge, designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall, for
Transurban Transurban is an Australian, multinational road operations company and one of the world's largest toll road operators. Transurban, either independently or through financial consortiums, manage and develops urban toll road networks across Austr ...
and constructed by Baulderstone Hornibrook, another architectural centrepiece took place from 1996 to 1999 and costing $75 million. In 1997, the Docklands commission engaged architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall (ARM) to design the Docklands masterplan incorporating the stadium, Victoria Dock and the Yarra on both sides of the Bolte Bridge. The whimsical futuristic design featured mostly curvy building frontages and winding thoroughfares. The centrepiece was an oval shaped central park (approximately the size of the Docklands Stadium field) accessed via a network of footbridges and surrounded by mid-sized towers from which a radial network of roads were lined by irregular curved footprints, each individually surrounded by zig-zagging lines of trees along the parks and open space. Vehicular traffic was minimised by a reduced road connectivity to encourage pedestrianisation. Harbour Esplanade was to be lined by low-rise commercial buildings such as restaurants to attract activity to the foreshore. The original plan featured integrated
windbreak A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted in hedgerows around the ed ...
s to reduce the wind-tunnel effect. A wide promenade and framed park would directly connect Bourke Street and Lonsdale Streets to the new precinct (the present site of Southern Cross Station), effectively funnelling pedestrians from the CBD toward the new waterfront. Moonee Ponds Creek was connected to Victoria Dock via a winding channel creating additional waterfront and the precincts were dotted by small irregularly placed ponds, islands and boardwalks. Another small channel would have connected the Victoria Harbour waterway with the Yarra to the south allowing for more flow and less stagnant water. Central Pier was to be demolished and replaced by a peninsula of connected islands featuring green space and a walking path from which the whole precinct could be viewed. Moonee Ponds Creek would have been restored featuring a peninsula extending beyond the present Bolte Bridge adding a large park to the northern riverside frontage of the precinct.


Bracks/Brumby era: Redesign and Commencement of Construction (1998)

With the exception of ''Yarra Waters'' (later Yarra's Edge) bid by Mirvac, bid for every other precinct between 1998 and 1999 fell through, reasons for which were often unclear due to secrecy provisions and a change of government. Under a new government the ARM masterplan was largely abandoned for a new Docklands Public Realm Plan and a new planning committee was established in conjunction with the City of Melbourne. This new plan removed the wavy original masterplan in favour of a largely rectilinear plan. Significantly the new masterplan removed key pedestrian connections to the CBD at Lonsdale Street and called for an elevated concrete footbridge via
Bourke Street Bourke Street is one of the main streets in the Melbourne central business district and a core feature of the Hoddle Grid. It was traditionally the entertainment hub of inner-city Melbourne, and is now also a popular tourist destination and tr ...
, effectively isolating the northern parts of the precinct from the CBD (due to plans for the new Southern Cross Station). The large public plaza proposed on the railyards between Bourke and Lonsdale Street was excluded leaving a large and visually unappealing space which disconnects Docklands from the CBD. Instead of reducing the connections to the road network, a new north–south highway, Wurundjeri Way, would further bisect the precinct and disconnect it from the CBD. The new plan called for much taller, more built up areas of towers along the north and south of the harbour and toward the Hoddle Grid (present sites of New Quay and Yarra's Edge and Batman's Hill). Central pier was to be restored and retained instead of demolished. Many more marinas catered for more private boats at New Quay, Victoria Harbour and Yarra's Edge than the original design, further reducing the amount of open water. Green space around the smaller and mid-sized buildings was removed in favour of footprints built to street frontage with laneways connecting each street between shorter podiums. More traditional avenues of street trees replaced irregular plantings, the ornamental ponds and floating walkways were removed in favour of long linear concrete promenades. Mixed-use low-rise along Harbour Esplanade which was aimed to increase activity along the foreshore was removed in order to widen the main thoroughfare. Docklands Park became a linear park flanked by shorter towers aligned north south with the Charles Grimes Bridge. Moonee Ponds Creek extension and restoration was also removed from the masterplan. The design also called for a wide Harbour Esplanade with no buildings along its foreshore lined by Canary Island Date Palms similar to the popular foreshores of Port Melbourne and Albert Park. Through the tendering process for the sites, the business park was split once more and awarded to two consortia, becoming Entertainment City (renamed
Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...
) - a movie theme park with film studios, to be developed by a Viacom led consortium, and Yarra Nova (which later evolved into
NewQuay Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parishes in England, civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on t ...
), to the MAB Corporation consortium. The
Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...
proposal fell through, and the site was put to tender once more, as Studio City, and later awarded as two parts, becoming what is now
Docklands Studios Melbourne Docklands Studios Melbourne is a major film and television production complex located in Melbourne’s redeveloped Docklands precinct. The site is approximately from Melbourne’s Central Business District. The complex opened in 2004 and its ...
and Waterfront City. Yarra Waters/Yarra Quays was awarded to Mirvac, later becoming Yarra's Edge. The technology park was renamed Commonwealth Technology Port (or Comtech Port) before finally becoming Digital Harbour. A number of other sites also encountered false starts, with Victoria Harbour originally being awarded to Walker Corporation, before being put out to tender again and finally being awarded to
Lendlease Lendlease is an Australian multinational construction and real estate company, headquartered in Barangaroo, Sydney, New South Wales. History Founding The company was established as Lendlease by Dick Dusseldorp in 1958 to provide finance fo ...
in April 2001. The Batman's Hill precinct was originally awarded to
Grocon Grocon is an Australian property development, property developer, construction, contractor and Investment management, funds management company that is privately owned by the Bruno Grollo, Grollo family. Founded in Melbourne in 1948, it expanded ...
, which had plans for what would have been the world's tallest building rising 560 m, dubbed Grollo Tower and featuring a mix of office, apartment, hotel and retail. This deal also fell through with the site being subdivided into 15 parcels as well as No 2 Goods Shed. On 1 July 2007 Docklands became part of the
City of Melbourne The City of Melbourne is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the Melbourne central business district, central city area of Melbourne. In 2021, the city has an area of and had a populati ...
Local Government Authority, however, VicUrban retained planning authority until 2010.


Districts

Following the initial Vicurban tender and the 1999 masterplan, Docklands was divided the land into a number of themed precincts, with each to be designed and built by a different development company. Overall governance was overseen by the Docklands Authority. The precincts defined (from north to south) were: Since the initial tendering process, other precincts and sub-precincts within these have emerged.


Northbank

Though not part of the 1999 masterplan or tendering process, the area of Docklands north of the Yarra opposite
South Wharf South Wharf is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government areas of Victoria, l ...
from Spencer Street to Charles Grimes Bridge area around Siddeley Street originally including the part of North Wharf closest to the Hoddle grid is part of the gazetted land. It was rebranded as the Northbank precinct as other parts of Docklands began construction. At the time it consisted of a collection of a handful of existing buildings. Originally home to 1880s markets and industry including the Mission to Seamen building, between the 1920s and 1940s the area was almost completely cleared for a new port including Goods Shed number 5 and a large electric crane. By the 1970s, the majority of the area was covered by a parking lot with a petrol station and a small number of commercial buildings remaining from the 1920s era. In the late 1970s, the disused port area was first earmarked for urban renewal aimed at extending CBD beyond the Hoddle grid along the river past Spencer Street. A small cluster of 1920s commercial buildings were cleared to construct the brutalist landmarks the blocky World Trade Center (1982) and semi-circular shaped Crowne Plaza Hotel (1988) along with a massive multi-storey carpark, Melbourne's largest at the time, aimed to attract motorist commuters. However without permanent residents, like much of the CBD in the 80s the area proved unpopular and failed to attract activity despite the opening of Melbourne's Melbourne's first casino there, Crown Casino in 1994 and after its 1997 relocation to the permanent new site in Southbank, a temporary
Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843. In 1883, the restricted space of ...
wax museum. Due to the precincts initial failure, development subsequently halted for over a decade. Since the Docklands project the area has seen a growth of new interest in the long neglected precinct with over $1 billion in planned development. Flinders Wharf (2003) was one of the first new developments, adding 301 hi-rise apartments and mixed use to the riverfront. Relocation of Victoria Police headquarters to the World Trade Center offices and establishing a new police museum in 2007 was followed by redevelopment of the World Trade Centre as WTC Wharf (2008) aimed at stimulating further investment in the precinct. Mirvac have constructed a 20-storey office tower at 7 Spencer Street (2021). Melbourne Skyfarm (2021-23), a greening of the roof of the multi-storey carpark including sustainability centre, was aimed at softening the mostly harsh concrete area. 637 Flinders (2022) by Cox Architecture is seven storey modern infill office building added to the provide street frontage to the shorter World Trade Centre tower. Seafarers (2024), a mixed-use apartment building by architects Fender Katsalidis included a new public park known as Seafarers Rest and restaurants along a reconstructed Goods Shed 5. Northbank is also a key part of the Greenline pedestrian and cycling link aimed at connecting Melbourne to the Docklands along the Yarra.


Batman's Hill

The Batman's Hill precinct is an 100,000 square metre area bordered by the Yarra River to the south, Spencer Street to the east, Docklands Stadium to the north and Victoria Harbour to the west. The precinct is named after the historical landmark
Batman's Hill Batman's Hill in Melbourne, Australia was named for the Vandemonian adventurer and grazier John Batman. Now removed, the hill was located to the south of today's Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins Street and Southern Cross railway station, and i ...
, which was once located within the area. It is a mixed-use precinct including commercial and retail space, entertainment, hotels, residential sections, restaurants, cultural sites and educational institutions as well as the historic Rail Goods Shed No. 2, which was split in half to allow for the extension of Collins Street into Docklands, providing businesses with an address that is considered to be prestigious. Fox Classic Car Museum in the Queens Warehouse was one of the first places to open in Batman's Hill in 2000. Completed buildings include: * 700 Collins Street (home to the Bureau of Meteorology and
Medibank Medibank is an Australian private health insurance provider headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria. It is Australia's largest private health insurance provider, covering around 4.2 million customers in 2024. Medibank initially ...
) (2003) * 750 Collins Street (the Melbourne headquarters of AMP) (2007) * Watergate apartments and small office complex (2007) * 737 Bourke Street (10 storey office building for headquarters of National Foods) (2008) * Media House (2010) at 643 Collins Street. Built for
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...
it comprises 16,000 m2 of office space accommodating 1,400 staff, on decking over railway lines opposite Southern Cross Station. The $110 million eight-storey facility was designed by architects
Bates Smart Bates Smart is an architectural firm with studios in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1853 by Joseph Reed, it is one of Australia's oldest architectural firms. Over the decades, the firm's practices involving architecture, interior ...
to achieve a 5-star Green Star rating, and features a news ticker, outdoor screen and grassy plaza. It was developed by Grocon in 2009. * 717 Bourke Street (17 storey building consisting of a 294-room Travelodge Hotel) (2011) * Kangan Institute's Automotive Centre for Excellence (ACE) (2023) On 2 August 2007, it was reported that a $1.5 billion scheme had been earmarked for Collins Street by Middle Eastern investment company Sama Dubai, to be designed by architect
Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall. The plan would consist of four buildings, including Docklands' tallest tower as well as civic spaces spanning two sites to be built on decking over Wurundjeri Way. The proposed tower would have between 50 and 60 storeys tall but did not proceed and VicUrban put the site back out to tender in early 2011.


Collins Square

Collins Square (previously Village Docklands) is a ~2Ha site within the Batman's Hill precinct. It was developed by Walker Corporation. Collins Square is the outcome of a split of precincts in the tender process in 2000, which resulted in Goods Shed South, 735 Collins Street and Sites 4A-4F, originally awarded to the Kuok Group and Walker Corporation. A masterplan prepared by Marchese + Partners in conjunction with Bligh Voller Nield architects was approved in early 2002. It included a 60-storey Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts tower with a Collins Street address and a mix of commercial and residential towers, as well as the refurbishment of the southern half of Goods Shed No. 2 into a night market and food hall. In mid-2007, a new masterplan was prepared by
Bates Smart Bates Smart is an architectural firm with studios in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1853 by Joseph Reed, it is one of Australia's oldest architectural firms. Over the decades, the firm's practices involving architecture, interior ...
. In it a new 38-storey office tower replaced the Shangri La Hotel on Collins Street and the number of streets is reduced from four to three, replaced by pedestrian thoroughfares. Overall there will now be five office buildings, ranging in height from 155m (to roof) to 36m, a 10,000sqm retail and public space, and the refurbishment of the Goods Shed with a 'Lantern' structure addressing Collins Street. The entire precinct is aiming for a 5 Star Green Star rating. Construction of Collins Square was completed in 2018.


Stadium Precinct

The Stadium Precinct, which sits on the eastern edge of Docklands, consists of
Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...
,
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
's Melbourne
digital broadcasting Digital broadcasting is the practice of using digital signals rather than analogue signals for broadcasting over radio frequency bands (radio broadcasting). Digital television broadcasting (especially satellite television) is widespread. Digital ...
centre, Victoria Point, Bendigo Bank offices, Medibank offices and serviced apartments. It is linked to Southern Cross station and the
Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (colloquially known as "the City" or "the CBD", and gazetted simply as Melbourne) is the city centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. As of the 2021 census, the CBD had a population of 54,941, and is ...
by the Bourke Street pedestrian bridge, built over railway lines. During the 2000 Docklands development tender process, the stadium precinct was divided into four corners, the North West Stadium Precinct (NWSP), North East Stadium Precinct (NESP), South East Stadium Precinct (SESP) and South West Stadium Precinct (SWSP). The NWSP was awarded to Channel 7/Pacific Holdings. The NESP was awarded to Pan Urban. The SWSP was awarded to Devine Limited/RIA Property Group and the SESP - Bourke Junction Consortium (ISPT, CBUS Property and EPC Partners). Docklands Stadium (originally Colonial Stadium) was opened in March 2000. The ability for the structure to have both open and closed roof configurations has seen it host many sports events, including
Australian Rules Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
, soccer,
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
and rugby as well as concerts. The stadium complex is currently managed by Stadium Operations Ltd, which is owned by the
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
, with ownership transferring to the
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
in 2025. Developer Pan Urban has announced plans for a $300 million twin-tower apartment development, known as Lacrosse Docklands, for the NESP, with the towers set to rise 21 and 18 storeys respectively, above the stadium concourse, with restaurants and bars opening out on to the concourse, forming a retail plaza. Plans for the site to be known as ''Bourke Junction'' include office towers of 29 and 21 storeys on the north-eastern and south-western corners of the SESP site, as well as three lower-rise buildings housing a 250-room hotel, a pub, medical centre, retail facilities, a business club and a two-level gymnasium.


Harbour Esplanade and stadium redevelopments (2010-)

Due to concerns over the failed pedestrian activation of Harbour Esplanade, it was redeveloped between 2010 and 2011 at a cost of $9.2 million. The existing 23 10 metre tall palms and gum trees were replaced by 230 Norfolk Island pines (for a more stronger windbreak effect), realigned tram tracks to the centre roadway and new separated bicycle paths added. However the redevelopment failed in its objective to increase pedestrian activation of the foreshore. As a result, another $16 million redevelopment under a new Harbour Esplanade Masterplan was proposed to repair the degraded wharfs unsuitable for pedestrian activation and reinstate previously demolished sheds and introduce an avenue trees to the waterfront. In 2020 the heritage listed Central Pier and its Shed 9 and Shed 19 were permanently closed due to its deteriorating condition. By 2023 the government decided to demolish and replace the heritage listed Central Pier which had been a centrepiece of the revised 1999 masterplan. The project would cost a total of $550 million. The shutdown was estimated to cost a further $865 million to the economy and was the subject of legal action against the government by commercial tenants. In 2024 an additional $225 was committed by the government to redevelop the stadium in an attempt to activate the foreshore.


Digital Harbour at Comtechport Precinct

Digital Harbour is a waterfront that has an area of 44,000 square metres, with development intended to expand to include 220,000 square metres of commercial, residential,
SOHO SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
units and retail space. At present only three buildings have been completed; 1010 LaTrobe Street/Port 1010 (home to VicTrack, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service), and the Innovation Building (home of the
Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...
Learning Academy and Innovation Centre). A third building, Life.lab currently resides at 198 Harbour Esplanade, while a fourth, 1000
La Trobe Street La Trobe Street (also Latrobe Street) is a major street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and forms the northern boundary of the central business district. The street ...
, is expected to commence shortly. Port 1010 received the Commercial Architecture Award at the 2007 Victorian Architecture Awards, held on Friday 13 July. The Digital Harbour Business Association was launched in 2011. This is a group of businesses established in the Digital Harbour precinct in the Docklands. The precinct is a destination for IT, Media and other related businesses. The aim of the association is to promote the businesses within Digital Harbour to the wider Docklands Community and the Melbourne CBD.


Victoria Harbour

The Victoria Harbour Precinct is the centrepiece of Docklands. The precinct includes Central Pier and the land south towards the Yarra along with an extension of Collins Street and Bourke Street to meet at the water's edge. It has an area of 280,000 square metres, with 3.7 kilometres of waterfront. The 12-year construction plans for Victoria Harbour include residential apartments, commercial office space, retail space, community facilities and the development of public spaces such as Grand Plaza, Docklands Park and Central Pier. One of the first completed office buildings in the precinct was the colourful National Australia Bank (NAB) headquarters, located at 800 Bourke Street, which accommodates approximately 3,600 staff. The building has large open floor plates, an atria, a campus-style workplace and a four-star energy rating. Almost 1,000 Ericsson employees also call Victoria Harbour home, with the company's new Melbourne offices at 818 Bourke Street. Ericsson House sits on the water's edge next door to the National Australia Bank HQ and Dock 5 apartments The first residential tower to be built at Victoria Harbour was Dock 5. Rising 30 storeys, it was designed by Melbourne firm
John Wardle Architects John Wardle is a Melbourne-based architect. He graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a degree in Architecture. Biography John Wardle established his architectural practice John Wardle Architects (JWA) in Melbourne in 1 ...
and
Hassell Hassell is a multidisciplinary architecture, design and urban planning practice with offices in Australia, China, Singapore, USA and the United Kingdom. Founded in 1937/8 in Adelaide, South Australia, the firm's former names include Claridge, Ha ...
. Dock 5 derives its name from its location, which was known as Dock 5. The Gauge, at 825 Bourke Street was built to house offices for developer
Lendlease Lendlease is an Australian multinational construction and real estate company, headquartered in Barangaroo, Sydney, New South Wales. History Founding The company was established as Lendlease by Dick Dusseldorp in 1958 to provide finance fo ...
and Fujitsu. The eight-storey building was designed to achieve a six-star energy rating, becoming the second building in Docklands to do so. A
Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...
supermarket opened in Merchant Street (opposite The Gauge) in 2008, along with a number of other retail tenancies at street level, including
Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...
, a childcare centre, and offices above, which have been occupied by LUCRF Super and the National Union of Workers since 2008. In 2009 the ANZ Bnak's new world headquarters at 833 Collins Street have was completed. The office complex includes shops, car parking facilities and a
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
. It enables 6,500 ANZ staff to work in one integrated area. The new ANZ headquarters, designed by Hassell and developed by Lendlease, was expected to become the largest office complex in Australia. Construction commenced in late 2006. It has been designed to achieve a six-star energy rating. In 2007, Myer announced that it had chosen Victoria Harbour as the location for its new Corporate Store Support Offices. The new offices were built at 800 Collins Street, opposite ANZ.


NewQuay

NewQuay, opened in 2002, was one of the first residential and commercial developments in Docklands. It is a mixed-use precinct comprising a number of private residential, hotel accommodation, serviced apartment and retail/commercial properties, developed by the MAB Corporation. The flagship building, Palladio - which is shaped like the prow of a ship - is named after Italian architect
Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( , ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be on ...
. The podium building, Sant'Elia is named after another Italian architect,
Antonio Sant'Elia Antonio Sant'Elia (; 30 April 1888 – 10 October 1916) was an Italian architect and a key member of the Futurist movement in architecture. He left behind almost no completed works of architecture and is primarily remembered for his bold sk ...
. Other buildings are named after Australian artists: Nolan ( Sidney Nolan), Arkley ( Howard Arkley), Boyd (
Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...
), and Conder (
Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...
). In 2013, the construction of the twin residential towers "The Quays" was completed. Aquavista, completed in May 2007, is a strata office development and the first commercial building to be completed in NewQuay, as part of the HQ NewQuay development. Another, the seven-storey 370 Docklands Drive, is currently under construction, with a further two buildings - Lots 5 & 9 - currently under design development. On 17 October 2007, MAB Corporation launched 'The Avenues at NewQuay' development, consisting of three-storey townhouse residences, with park and waterfront frontages, to be built as part of NewQuay's western precinct. The development is being designed by Plus Architecture. The ground level podiums contain a commercial precinct with a variety of restaurants and cafes including
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, Indian,
Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
,
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
, Moroccan, Cambodian and Modern Australian cuisines.


Yarra's Edge

Yarra's Edge is a residential precinct being developed by Mirvac, and the only Docklands precinct south of the Yarra River. When complete, it will consist of 11 apartment towers, costing A$1.3 billion, and cover 0.15 km2. A mix of restaurants, cafes and retail, including a
day spa A day spa is a business that promotes itself as providing a variety of services for improving health, beauty, and relaxation through Body treatment, personal care treatments such as massages and facials. The number of day spas in the US almo ...
and a convenience store. Yarra's Edge also has a 175-berth
marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...
, giving boat owners previously unavailable proximity to Crown Casino and the city. Yarra's Edge was one of the first developments in Docklands, with construction of Tower 1 commencing in 2000. It is divided into 3 smaller precincts: * Marina Precinct - Comprising the marina and boardwalk, with 5 tall residential towers ranging in height from 25 to 47 storeys: * Park Precinct - Comprising Point Park and two residential towers * River Precinct - Comprising a mix of lower-level, less intense terrace-style developments and three high-rise towers towards the Bolte Bridge


Webb Bridge

Webb Bridge is a bridge designed by Denton Corker Marshall, in collaboration with artist
Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...
, forming a cycling and pedestrian link to the main part of Docklands, through Docklands Park. It is the conversion of the former Webb Bridge rail link.


Charles Grimes Bridge and Jim Stynes Bridge

Charles Grimes Bridge is a dual-carriageway bridge that carries the Docklands Highway over the Yarra River. It was named after New South Wales surveyor general Charles Grimes, who was the first European to sight the Yarra. The bridge, built in 1975 and given its current name in 1983, predates the Docklands development but was connected the new Wurundjeri Way in 1999 to the West Gate Freeway. The Jim Stynes Bridge was opened in 2014 to carry pedestrian and cyclist traffic underneath the Charles Grimes Bridge from Yarra's Edge to Northbank area.


Greenline

The Greenline is a shared bicycle and pedestrian path that runs along the Northbank of the Yarra River connecting Yarra's Edge to the Melbourne CBD and North Wharf Victoria Harbour, Docklands Esplanade and the Capital City Trail via the Web Bridge interchange.


Waterfront City

Waterfront City is a shopping and entertainment area that includes The District Docklands shopping mall, Melbourne Star Observation wheel, Icehouse ice sports and entertainment centre, and numerous shops and cafes which are centred on this area. The precinct features an integration of retail, waterfront entertainment, tourism, dining, commercial and urban community. It has an area of 193,000 square metres. Stage One was completed in December 2005, in time for the Melbourne stopover of the
Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...
in January – February 2006 and the
Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...
in March 2006. The precinct originally featured a large circus tent, which hosted the International Circus Spectacular, as well as a mosaic of local entertainers and a number of bronze statues, including
Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...
,
John Farnham John Peter Farnham (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until the mid-1970s, billed as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...
,
Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy Order of Australia, AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, radio and television host as well as a personality and actor of theatre, television and film. He wa ...
,
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...
and
Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, ...
and a Melbourne Walk of Fame. Stage Two includes a public entertainment area incorporating the Melbourne Star (previously Southern Star), a tall
Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...
in the shape of a seven-pointed star, and The District Docklands Shopping Mall. Waterfront city is home to Australia's first
Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...
Warehouse Store. In May 2017 Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and Planning Minister Richard Wynne visited The District Docklands to announce a $150 million redevelopment of the centre including an eight-screen Hoyts cinema, which opened in 2018, and a full-line Woolworths supermarket due mid-2019. During 2017–2018, a collaboration between The District Docklands and Renew Australia allowed the creation of an initiative called the Docklands Art Collective, which made a wing of The District Docklands complex available at very low rents to arts businesses and galleries. These included a photography studio, a puppetry workshop, a comics retailer and printery, a recycled art paper maker and the relocated Blender Studios.


Docklands Studios

When it opened in 2004, Central City Studios became Melbourne's largest film and television studio complex. The site is located approximately 2 km north west of the Central Business District. It has an area of 60,000 square metres and currently consists of five film and television
sound stages A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a large, soundproof structure, building or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or te ...
. The first major contract for the new studios was the American film '' Ghost Rider'' in 2005; with a budget of nearly $120 million, at the time it was the biggest feature film to be made in Victoria and features scenes involving Melbourne landmarks. Since then the studios have housed many international productions. In 2009 the Government of Victoria, together with the Studios, undertook the Future Directions project. This resulted in the State Government committing the Studios to focus on both the international and domestic film and television industries. Further developments to the infrastructure of the site are planned, including a sixth sound stage. On 11 October 2010 the studios were re-branded as Docklands Studios Melbourne, formally adopting the name by which the studios were commonly known.


Heritage

Significant heritage buildings include the No 2 Goods Shed (now a mixed use development), former railway offices at 67 Spencer Street (now the Grand Hotel), The Mission to Seafarers building, Victoria Dock and Central Pier, Queens Warehouse (adaptively reused as a vintage car museum), Docklands Park
gantry crane A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the wor ...
and a small number of warehouses and container sheds. * Victoria Dock and Central Pier (1887-1892) * No.2 Goods Shed (1889-1890) * Queen's Warehouse (1890) * Batman's Hill Retaining Wall (1890) * Former Victorian Railways Headquarters (1893) * Mission to Seamen (1919) * Berth No. 5. North Wharf (1948) * History of Transport Mural (1973), DFO File:67 Spencer Street Melbourne.jpg, 67 Spencer Street, one of Melbourne's largest 19th century office buildings, now the Grand Hotel File:Docklands Shed.jpg, No 2 Goods Shed, Australia's longest building once completed in 1889, now a mixed use development File:Queens Warehouse, Melbourne.jpg, Queen's Warehouse houses the Fox Classic Cars collection File:Mission to seamen.jpeg, Mission to Seamen is preserved as a museum


Transport

Docklands has access to
road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...
, rail and
water transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pr ...
s. Docklands Highway or Wurundjeri Way is the main road through Docklands. It connects to the nearby Westgate Freeway on the southern end and links to the CBD including extensions from Flinders Street, Collins Street and
La Trobe Street La Trobe Street (also Latrobe Street) is a major street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and forms the northern boundary of the central business district. The street ...
. Southern Cross station, near the eastern edge of Docklands, is the closest passenger railway station. It is also the major interchange for metropolitan and intercity rail. Much of Docklands area remains covered by
rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...
s previously used for freight transport and rolling stock which are being progressively reclaimed or built over. Trams in Docklands include the free City Circle tram, along Docklands Drive and to and from Waterfront City. As Docklands has developed, tram routes have been extended and rerouted into the area. Route 70 also runs to Waterfront City. Route 75 runs along Harbour Esplanade, terminating at Footscray Road. Routes 11 and 48 run along Collins Street to Victoria Harbour. Route 30 enters Docklands via La Trobe Street, terminating at the north end of Harbour Esplanade. Route 86 runs along La Trobe Street and Docklands Drive, terminating at Waterfront City. Docklands also includes major pedestrian links with a concourse extending from Bourke Street and extensive promenades along the waterfront, including the wide Harbour Esplanade. Several offroad bicycle paths run through Docklands, all of which connect through the central spine of Webb Bridge, Docklands Park and Harbour Esplanade, connecting Melbourne City Centre to the inner western suburbs and the Capital City Trail. There are also three ferry terminals which connect Docklands to the Melbourne City Centre and inner bayside suburbs. One at Victoria Harbour, one at NewQuay and one at Yarra's Edge.


Sports and recreation

* The
Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...
(currently known as Marvel Stadium), located just northwest of the
Southern Cross railway station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins and La Trobe Street, La Tr ...
, is the home ground to five AFL
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
clubs ( St Kilda,
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...
, Carlton, Essendon and
Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...
) and one
Big Bash League The Big Bash League (BBL), also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the Big Bash League replaced the previous competitio ...
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
team (
Melbourne Renegades Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket club based in Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. They compete in the Australian Twenty20 cricket competit ...
). It was also one of the venues for the
2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...
and the
2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...
, and hosted the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia. * The O'Brien Icehouse, located between the Moonee Ponds Creek (accessible via the creek trail) and the Melbourne Star observation wheel, is the largest ice sports venue and the only dual- rink facility in Australia. It is the home to both of the two Victorian AIHL
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
teams, the Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Mustangs. * The Docklands Sports Courts is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...
on Harbour Esplanade featuring two mixed-use
court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...
for
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...
,
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
/
futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...
and
dodgeball Dodgeball is a team sports, team sport in which players on two opposing teams try to throw balls and hit opponents while avoiding being hit themselves. The objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them w ...
and an outdoor ping-pong table, as well as children's
play park A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...
s and shading parasols. The Docklands Park is across the Esplanade, offering more green spaces with bicycle trails. * Lasersports Australia operates a
booking Booking may refer to: * Making an appointment for a meeting or gathering, as part of event planning/ scheduling * The intake or admission process into a prison or psychiatric facility. * ''Booking'' (manhwa), a Korean comics anthology magazine ...
-based laser clay shooting business at New Quay.


Demographics and industry

In the 2016 Census, there were 10,964 people in Docklands. 27.3% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 16.5%, India 12.7%, South Korea 3.1%, Malaysia 2.6% and England 2.3%. 34.4% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 18.3%, Hindi 4.9%, Cantonese 3.1%, Korean 2.9% and Telugu 2.4%. The most common response for religion in Docklands (State Suburbs) was No Religion at 38.1%. Of the occupied private dwellings in Docklands, 97.1% were flats or apartments and 2.3% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses, etc. In 2009, there were just under 10,000 working mostly in office and retail industries. In the 2021 Census, the Docklands had grown to a population of 15,495 people.


Local media

The precinct has two publications, Docklands News and 3008 Docklands Magazine. The Docklands Community News' first edition was published in 2003, and both DCN & 3008 Docklands Magazine have grown with the Docklands precincts' population. Both publications are printed and distributed to all businesses and residences within Docklands, which allows for a regular readership of over 10,000. The DCN paper informs the community of relevant news relating to Docklands as well as supplying residents, business owners and workers with a platform for community discussion. 3008 Docklands Magazine also covers all matters relating to the Docklands community and businesses, but also covers events and news pertaining to Melbourne City and the surrounding suburbs, as Docklands is under the jurisdiction of the City of Melbourne. 3008 Docklands Magazine is a glossy, well-produced, stylish publication which is both informative and interesting and has been well received by its reader base since its first issue back in May 2006. 3008 Docklands Magazine has a significant online following.


Response and reception

The planning of Docklands has raised a large amount of public debate and the area has created significant controversy, particularly the failed Ferris wheel. In 1999, Melbourne City Council Director of Projects criticised the disconnection of the precinct to the CBD, claiming that the lack of transport links, particularly pedestrian, meant Docklands was "seriously flawed". The problem was exacerbated in 2005, when the pedestrian link between Lonsdale Street and Docklands proposed in 2001 was cut from the final design of the Southern Cross Station development due to budget blowouts. In 2006, Royce Millar of ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' referred to it as a "wasted opportunity". In 2008, the City of Melbourne released a report which criticised Docklands' lack of transport and
wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...
effect, lack of green spaces and community facilities. In 2009, Neil Mitchell wrote for ''The Age'' declaring Docklands as a planning "dud". The
Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...
, Robert Doyle, has been openly critical of Docklands, claiming in 2009 that it lacks any form of "social glue". However, despite the local criticism, in 2009, Sydney travel writer Mal Chenu described Melbourne Docklands as "the envy of Sydneysiders". In 2010, VicUrban's
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
David Young acknowledged that Harbour Esplanade "doesn't stack up".
Kim Dovey Kim Dovey is an Australian architecture, architectural and urban critic and Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching and researching architecture, urban design and urban planning. Born in W ...
, professor of architecture and design at the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
, added that Harbour Esplanade was "too big" and claimed that Docklands was "so badly done" that it required a "major rethink". The Docklands area came under heavy criticism for the failure to provide a school with families being forced out of the area or needing to commute to state schools already under pressure from the critical shortage of schools in the inner suburbs. A private school,
Melbourne City School Melbourne City School was an independent, co-educational Prep to Year 9 school located in the Melbourne Central Business District on King Street. Melbourne City School was founded in 2010 as an initiative of Eltham College, but closed at the en ...
, opened on King Street in 2010 but closed in 2012 due to low enrollments. Docklands Primary School in NewQuay opened in January 2021. The Docklands Sports Club has run Junior Football and Cricket programs since Summer 2019.
George Savvides George Savvides (born 20 October 1956)
Retrieved ...
, CEO of
Medibank Medibank is an Australian private health insurance provider headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria. It is Australia's largest private health insurance provider, covering around 4.2 million customers in 2024. Medibank initially ...
, which has been based in Docklands since 2004, has been critical of the area's lack of soul and amenity, but the company has nevertheless chosen to remain committed to the area.


"Ghost town" reputation and post COVID-19 Pandemic decline

In the late 2010s, the area developed a reputation as a
ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
due to rapidly declining activity. In 2022 the Victorian Liberal Party declared it as such, citing neglect and poor planning by successive governments causing an extreme lack of activity, especially due to the permanent closure of Central Pier in 2019. Docklands has consistently been labelled this way by the media post
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. By 2023 among the stark lack of activity was exacerbated by a trend of owner occupiers converting their residences to
Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...
s, Costco shutting its flagship store, several prominent businesses closing their doors, and the Walk of Stars being permanently relocated elsewhere.


Public art

There are approximately 68 pieces of public art in the Docklands Precincts, with works from Australian and New Zealand artists. There are self-guided tours and maps available for the public to discover the artworks. File:Cow_Up_A_Tree_by_John_Kelly_(Horizontal).jpg, "Cow up a tree" by John Kelly. Harbour Esplanade File:Bruce_Armstrong_Eagle.jpg, "Bunjil" by Bruce Armstrong. Wurundjeri Way File:AuroraDocklands03.jpg, "Aurora" by Geoffrey Bartlett on the corner of Harbour Esplanade and Collins Street File:Melbourne_Emily_Floyd_Toy_rabbit_03.jpg, "Toy Rabbit" by Emily Floyd File:"Shoal_Fly_By"_by_Cat_McLeod_and_Michael_Bellemo,_Docklands,_Melbourne_Australia_(4589640781).jpg, "Shoal Fly By" by Cat McLeod and Michael Bellemo. Harbour Esplanade File:"Unfurling"_by_Andrew_Rogers,_Docklands,_Melbourne_Australia_(4590265008).jpg, "Unfurling" by Andrew Rogers. Harbour Esplanade File:Docklands_Simon_Perry_04.jpg, "Threaded Field" by Simon Perry. Harbour Esplanade File:Continuum_Docklands_01.jpg, "Continuum" by Michael Snape. Harbour Esplanade File:Aqualung_by_John_Mead_in_Captain_Walk,_Docklands_(1).jpg, "Aqualung" by John Mead at Captain Walk File:Duncan_Stemler_Blowhole_(1).jpg, "Blowhole" by Duncan Stemler File:Lillies.jpg, "Lillies" by Adrian Mauriks at New Quay File:Melbourne_Docklands_Sculpture_-_panoramio.jpg, "Panoramio" by Russell Anderson File:Sculpture_and_the_Bolte_Bridge_(on_the_background)_at_the_-then-_undeveloped_Docklands_(2005)_(4613795039).jpg, "Reed Vessel" by Virginia King File:Unfurling_curve_by_Andrew_Rogers,_Docklands.jpg, "Unfurling Curve" by Andrew Rogers File:Wulunj_(Digging_Stick)_by_Glenn_Romanis_and_Brodie_Hill.jpg, "Wulunj" by Glenn Romanis and Brodie Hill File:Bicycle-End_of_Victoria_Harbour_Promenade,_Docklands.jpg, "Bicycle-End". Harbour Esplanade


Notable residents

* Sally Capp – 104th Lord Mayor of Melbourne (Victoria Harbour) * Sam Newman – former AFL player and sportscaster (Yarra's Edge)Docklands: Sam Newman's former New York-style penthouse listing spruiked by Kevin Sheedy
Alesha Capone RealEstate.com.au 19 April 2024


See also

* History of Melbourne Docklands * Australia Award for Urban Design


References


Further reading

*
Kim Dovey Kim Dovey is an Australian architecture, architectural and urban critic and Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching and researching architecture, urban design and urban planning. Born in W ...
: ''Fluid City: Transforming Melbourne's Urban Waterfront'', London: Routledge, 2005


External links

*
3008 Docklands Magazine WebsiteDocklands Community NewsNewQuay websiteWaterfront City website

Victoria Harbour websiteYarra's Edge websiteDigital Harbour websiteHow public is your private? Article about Docklands by Martin Musiatowicz
{{Melbourne landmarks Docklands Docklands Planned communities in Australia Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Australia Docks (maritime) Yarra River 2006 Commonwealth Games venues Port of Melbourne