43-546: Williamstown Dockyard was one of Australia's principal ship building yards at Williamstown, Victoria , Australia . The Colony of Victoria decided to construct a large slipway at Williamstown to provide ship repair facilities in 1856 and the Government Patent Slip was opened in 1858. Slip Pier was built in 1858 and was used in conjunction with the Government Patent Slip. The Slip Pier
86-575: A cargo of 500 sheep and 50 Hereford cattle which had been consigned by Dr. Alexander Thomson . After reaching the coastline of Port Phillip , Captain Coltish chose the area now known as Port Gellibrand, as a suitable place to unload his cargo . When Governor Richard Bourke and Captain William Lonsdale visited the emergent settlement at Port Phillip in 1837, they both felt the main site of settlement at Point Gellibrand would emerge at
129-472: A population of 14,407 at the 2021 census . Indigenous Australians occupied the area long before maritime activities shaped the modern historical development of Williamstown. The Yalukit-willam clan of the Kulin nation were the first people to call Hobsons Bay home. They roamed the thin coastal strip from Werribee to Williamstown/Hobsons Bay. The Yalukit-willam were one clan in a language group known as
172-484: A time when fellow Heidelberg School impressionist artist Frederick McCubbin was also painting the Williamstown landscape. Between 1909 and 1915, McCubbin visited Williamstown on numerous occasions and produced sketches and watercolours of the foreshore and the old shipyards. He also produced a major oil painting of the Williamstown docks in 1915. Williamstown was proclaimed a City on 17 May 1919. Construction of
215-489: A very different result with a huge swing against the government. The ALP's primary vote was 46.75% (compared to 61.7 in 2007), with the Liberal Party polling 32.5% of the primary vote. In the 2014 State Election , Noonan retained the seat with a primary vote of 44.6%. Primary schools in the area include St. Mary's Primary School, Williamstown Primary School and Williamstown North Primary School. State High schools in
258-726: A visibility of 15 nautical miles (28 km) and operated as a lighthouse from 1934 to 1987. Also in 1946, nine Williamstown residents met to form the Williamstown Little Theatre Movement. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Williamstown Little Theatre had several homes in Williamstown; from the Mechanic's Institute to the Williamstown Town Hall Supper Room and the former Missions to Seamen building in Nelson Place. In 1967
301-704: The Bunurong , which included six clans along the coast from the Werribee River , across the Mornington Peninsula , Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory . The Yalukit-willam referred to the Williamstown area as "koort-boork-boork", a term meaning "clump of she-oaks ", literally "She-oak, She-oak, many." In November 1835, Captain Robson Coltish, master of the barque Norval sailed from Launceston , then crossing Bass Strait with
344-579: The Californian gold fields, the settlement's growth was phenomenal. The first Williamstown Post Office opened on 1 March 1850. Australia's first telegraph line began operating between Melbourne and Williamstown on 3 March 1854. At this time, the timeball was moved to the Telegraph Station at Point Gellibrand. The Williamstown Chronicle , the first Victorian suburban newspaper, was established in 1854. The Williamstown Freemasons chapter
387-832: The Indian Ocean , sailed into Hobsons Bay on the afternoon of 25 January 1865. An 1871 hearing at the International Court in Geneva awarded damages of £820,000 against Britain to the US government for use of the port at Williamstown by the CSS Shenandoah . Between 1857 and 1889, the main railway workshops of the Victorian Railways were at Point Gellibrand, and at their height covered 85% of Point Gellibrand. Imported steam locomotives were assembled at
430-572: The Kororoit Creek . Williamstown is within the Victorian electoral district of Williamstown . The 2007 by-election was triggered by the resignation of Steve Bracks as both Premier of Victoria and the Member for Williamstown. Wade Noonan successfully contested the election with 61.7% of the primary vote. The Liberal Party did not contest the seat in 2007. The 2010 State Election saw
473-582: The Williamstown Town Hall on Ferguson Street commenced a year earlier in 1918, but it was not officially opened until 1927. The Williamstown and Newport Anglers Club was formed in 1933 and rented premises at 221 Nelson Place, moving next door to 223 in March 1935. In August 1939, the club was granted a site on the Esplanade and in 1941 a clubhouse was opened. A jetty and slipway were built
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#1732797550187516-693: The Williamstown Workshops . After 1889 the extensive workshops were moved to nearby Newport . The Alfred Graving Dock is historically significant as the first graving dock in Victoria and the third in Australia at that time, for its role in the development of the shipping industry in Port Phillip, for its continuous use as a Dockyard since its completion and for association with William Wardell during his term as Inspector General of
559-594: The bracteoles of the fruiting cones are thin, woody and extend well beyond the cone body. The genus Allocasuarina was first formally described in 1982 by Lawrence Johnson in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens . In the same paper, Johnson transferred some species previously included in Casuarina to the new genus, and nominated Allocasuarina torulosa Aiton L.A.S.Johnson as
602-614: The type species. The name Allocasuarina means "other Casuarina ". ("Allo-" in Greek means "other".) The following is a list of Allocasuarina accepted by the Australian Plant Census and Plants of the World Online as of April 2023: Plants in the genus Allocasuarina usually grow in nutrient-deficient soils and are endemic to southern Australia, but 4 species occur in north-eastern Queensland, and one in
645-539: The 1870s, the railway department contracted for the construction of a new pier to meet increased demand imposed by wool and later grain handling. When completed in 1878, it was initially referred to as the Western Pier, but was later renamed New Railway Pier . It was rebuilt in 1915 and 1927 and was renamed Nelson Pier in 1923. The pier and surrounding land was purchased by the Commonwealth in 1967, and use of
688-721: The Port Phillip Yacht Club , moved to its present site at 120 Nelson Place, adjacent to Gem Pier. Williamstown North Primary School was established in 1874 and in that same year part of the market reserve was purchased from the Williamstown Council by the Education Department in order to build the Williamstown Primary School No. 1183. The Williamstown CYMS football club was formed in 1886 and remains one of
731-643: The Public Works Department. Williamstown Baptist Church was officially founded in 1868, though a congregation had begun to form eight years earlier in response to an advertisement in the Williamstown Chronicle dated Saturday, 24 November 1860. Baptismal services were performed at the back beach at Williamstown from 1861 through to 1868, the first being performed 10 March 1861 by the Rev. David Rees of South Yarra. The Oddfellows' Hall
774-641: The Williamstown Baptist Sunday School called by Arthur Whitley (son of the Minister). Arthur Whitley became the first Captain and Fred Scott the first secretary. Williamstown Pier railway station was opened on 8 January 1905. The station existed primarily to serve the Williamstown docks precinct and was the terminus of the Williamstown line . In 1906, one of the largest undertakings attempted by ship repairers in Australia
817-489: The area include Bayside Secondary College and Williamstown High School , (Pasco and Bayview Street Campuses). The Junior School at the Williamstown campus of Westbourne Grammar School is housed in the National Trust classified Victorian mansion "Monomeith" at 67 The Strand. Allocasuarina 61 species; see text. Allocasuarina , commonly known as sheoak or she-oak , is a genus of flowering plants in
860-409: The community responded to the increasing risk of accidents from a busy port, the railway workshops and the growing industrial area of Newport , Spotswood and Footscray to establish Melbourne's first suburban public general hospital. Williamstown Central Tennis Club is on a site at the corner of Ferguson Street and Melbourne Road. The Williamstown Lacrosse Club was founded in 1898 at a meeting in
903-575: The estuary and they renamed it William's Town after King William IV , then the English monarch. It served as the Settlement of Port Phillip's first anchorage and as the centre for port facilities until the late 19th century. Williamstown was initially considered along with the sites that became known as Geelong and Melbourne for the capital of the new colony at Port Phillip. Although Williamstown offered excellent proximity to anchorage, Melbourne
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#1732797550187946-549: The facility declined. Demolition work began in 1979 due to its poor condition. Nelsons Pier West was constructed in 1978 to replace the nearby Nelson Pier. It provided two cranes and two berths for the refitting and outfitting of warships. Reid St Pier was constructed for the Melbourne Harbour Trust for exclusive use with its own floating plant in September 1891. It was later used to house the tug fleet, and
989-486: The family Casuarinaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Allocasuarina are trees or shrubs with soft, pendulous, green branchlets, the leaves reduced to scale-like teeth. Allocasuarinas are either monoecious or dioecious , the flowers never bisexual . Male and female flowers are arranged in spikes, the female spikes developing into cone-like structures enclosing winged seeds. The genera Allocasuarina and Casuarina are similar, and many formerly in
1032-544: The following year. In 1934, the bluestone time ball tower (the former lighthouse) was extended by 30 feet (9.1 m) with a circular brick tower on top. The extension was then painted with a coat of aluminium paint and it was re-established as a lighthouse due to the loss of singularity against the light of the City behind the Point Gellibrand Pile Light. It was electric, gave a green and red light, had
1075-548: The latter now included in Allocasuarina . Plants in the genus Allocasuarina are trees or shrubs with soft, pendulous, green branchlets, the leaves reduced to 4 to 14 scale-like teeth arranged around in whorls around ribbed, jointed branchlets. Allocasuarinas have separate male and female flowers, sometimes on one plant (monoecious), otherwise on separate male and female plants, (dioecious). Male flowers are arranged in spikes along branchlets that are usually different from
1118-474: The old rifle range was preserved, refurbished and is now as a funeral home set in a large formal garden. The remaining 50 hectares was reserved for the protection of the surrounding environmentally sensitive area. This area, now known as the Jawbone Flora and Fauna Reserve consists of open grasslands for passive recreation, two wetland lakes, the saltmarsh and mangrove conservation area, Wader Beach and
1161-554: The oldest sporting clubs in Australia. The Hobsons Bay Yacht Club, situated on Nelson Place at the end of Ferguson Street and adjacent to the pier. The Yacht Club Hotel was built in 1892 at 207 Nelson Place, a site previously occupied by an iron-framed 'wooden' hotel called the Lord Clyde. It was owned by Carlton and West End Breweries, later the Carlton Brewery Ltd. The Williamstown Hospital opened in 1894 when
1204-523: The theatre company moved into its current venue, a converted bakery on Albert Street. In 1948, an electoral redistribution saw Williamstown included in the new Australian Federal electoral Division of Gellibrand , named after Joseph Tice Gellibrand (1786–1836). It was proclaimed in 1949 and was first won in that year by the Australian Labor Party candidate, John Michael Mullens. He held the seat until 1955. The destroyer HMAS Anzac
1247-573: The vegetative branchlets. Female flowers are in spikes on short side-branches, the female spikes later developing into cone-like structures enclosing winged seeds known as samaras , which are reddish-brown to black, with thickly woody bracteoles that extend only slightly beyond the cone body. The genera Allocasuarina was created out of a grouping of plants formerly placed in Casuarina , because of subtle but consistent differences – Casuarina species have 6 to 20 scale-like teeth in each whorl of leaves, their samaras are grey or yellowish-brown, and
1290-561: Was 143 m (469 ft) in length, 24 m (79 ft) wide, 8 m (26 ft) deep. The dock was designed by William Wardell for the Public Works Department (Victoria) , and it was the largest structure of its type in the southern hemisphere. The Dockyard Pier , originally known as Dock Pier was constructed in 1874 for use with vessels engaged in pre/post docking in the Alfred Graving Dock. In
1333-699: Was also established in 1854. Fort Gellibrand was built in 1855 during the Crimean War , to guard against a possible Russian invasion. The first lightship to mark the reef off Point Gellibrand was the former barque New Constitution which the Government purchased in October 1856 for £1050. It took up station on 25 July 1859. In May 1860, tenders were called for construction of a new lightship off Point Gellibrand. The new lightship consisted of two white lights of equal height, 24 feet (7.3 m) apart, and
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1376-459: Was built in 1849–50 to replace the original wooden one. It only operated as a lighthouse until 1860, when a Pile Light was built and anchored off Shelly Beach, after which it served as a time ball tower. Williamstown had been a primitive settlement until the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, but after the gold seekers began to arrive, many from the tin mines of Cornwall , and many more from
1419-454: Was commissioned at Williamstown Naval Dockyard on 14 March 1951 under the command of Commander John Plunkett-Cole RAN. The Merrett Rifle Range at Williamstown was the rifle-shooting venue for the 1956 Olympic Games . In May 1962, the City of Williamstown annexed 83 hectares (210 acres) from the Shire of Altona . The Pile Light anchored off Shelly Beach in 1860 was destroyed in 1976 when it
1462-499: Was established aboard the steamer Fire Fly . It was used to convey passengers, as well as sheep and cattle from Tasmania. The first lighthouse, a wooden one with an oil-burning beacon at the top, was erected at Point Gellibrand in 1840. In that same year a water police superintendent was appointed to Williamstown. Williamstown remains the present-day home of the Victorian Water Police. A bluestone lighthouse
1505-580: Was hit by the Melbourne Trader , a vessel of 7,000 tonnes. The force of the collision snapped the piles at waterline area, the light was sheared off its piles at water level, pushed 7 metres (23 feet) sideways, and was left hanging precariously on several of the remaining piles. The Urban Land Authority developed 60 hectares of the estate for housing and related commercial and community activities. Residential allotments were progressively released for sale from May 1991. The historic armoury building of
1548-590: Was later known as the Lady Loch Jetty after the similarly named Government steamer. The pier and Government Patent Slipway were demolished in 1919. In 1858, the Colony of Victoria decided to build a graving dock and dockyard. Construction commenced in 1868, and was completed in February 1874. The Alfred Graving Dock , named after Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh , was built at a cost of £300,000. The graving dock
1591-517: Was once one of the senior thoroughbred racing clubs in Victoria. Built in 1872, the Williamstown Racecourse, with its large and elaborately decorated grandstand facing out to the sea, was considered one of the finest in Australia. The Williamstown Football Club , an Australian rules football club was formed in 1864. The Confederate States Navy warship CSS Shenandoah , which had successfully attacked several Union ships in
1634-571: Was rebuilt in 1949. In 1913, the dockyard was known as the State Shipbuilding Yard and was requisitioned in 1918 by the Commonwealth. Ownership passed to the Melbourne Harbor Trust in 1924 and during World War II it was requisitioned by the Commonwealth in 1942 and was known as HM Naval Dockyard Williamstown , or Williamstown Naval Dockyard . In 1987 it passed into private control of Tenix Defence and which
1677-854: Was rented for services from December 1868. The Presbyterian schoolroom in Cecil Street was later used, followed by the Temperance Hall from April 1870. The Tabernacle, now the Church of Christ on Douglas Parade, was used after this. In January 1876 services reverted to the Oddfellows' Hall. In 1884 the Baptist Church building on Cecil Street was officially opened. In 1873, the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, founded in May 1853 as
1720-748: Was shown from a temporary anchor in 4.5 fathoms of water. This lightship guarded Gellibrand's Point reef from 1861 until 1895. Williamstown Post Office (the oldest post office building still standing in Victoria) and a Mechanics Institute were built in 1860. By 1861 Williamstown had 13 slips for boat repairs and building, and pier accommodation for 40 vessels. In 1864, the town boundaries of Williamstown were expanded to take in Newport and Spottiswoode, later to become Spotswood . Piped water from Yan Yean water supply subsequently arrived, allowing more rapid growth. The Williamstown Racing Club, founded in 1864,
1763-547: Was subsequently acquired by BAE Systems Australia . 37°51′50″S 144°54′41″E / 37.86389°S 144.91139°E / -37.86389; 144.91139 Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne , Victoria , Australia , 11 km (6.8 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District , located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area . Williamstown recorded
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1806-739: Was successfully accomplished at the Williamstown Dockyard. SS Peregrine , a 1,660 GRT vessel of the Howard Smith Line, was lengthened amidships by 40 feet (12 m). This was perhaps the first jumboising operation undertaken in Australia. The Williamstown Hospital was expanded with the addition of the Male Ward in 1911 and the Female Ward in 1917. Heidelberg School impressionist artist Walter Withers painted numerous landscapes of Williamstown around 1910, at
1849-414: Was ultimately chosen due to its abundance of fresh water. Wiliamstown remained an important port of the new colony, and the first streets of old William's Town were laid out in 1837 with that in mind. The first land sales in the area took place in 1837. A 30-metre stone jetty was built by convict labour in 1838 where Gem Pier now stands. That same year a ferry service between Melbourne and Williamstown
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