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25-463: Surveyor Charles Grimes observed the swamp when he climbed a nearby hill during his 1803 voyage to chart Port Philip Bay . It became known as Batman's Swamp, after pioneer settler John Batman, who built a house at the base of the nearby Batman's Hill in April 1836, where he lived until his death in 1839. In 1912, George Gordon McCrae (son of diarist Georgiana McCrae ) described it as being, in 1841:

50-490: A Royal Commission into the development of the area described the swamp as "a disgusting swamp as repulsive in its present aspect as it is pestilent in its influence". The Commission recommended some residential development to the immediate west of the city, the reservation of areas along the Yarra River for docks, warehouses and industry, with the rest of the land being given over to agriculture and parkland. Drainage of

75-498: A dry season Flemming, who was described by King as "very intelligent", thought from the appearance of the herbage that "there is not often so great a scarcity of water as at present". He suggested that the "most eligible place for a settlement I have seen is on the Freshwater (Yarra) River". A plaque at the site marks the event. Grimes returned to Sydney on 7 March 1803 and, in spite of Flemming's opinions, reported adversely against

100-530: A laceman, and his wife Esther. Towards the end of 1790 Grimes was appointed deputy surveyor of roads in New South Wales and allocated work at Norfolk Island . Grimes did not arrive at Sydney until 21 September 1791 on the Gorgon . From there he went to Norfolk Island. Soon after his arrival on 4 November 1791, Governor King appointed him deputy surveyor-general of New South Wales. At Norfolk Island he

125-495: A real lake, intensely blue, nearly oval, and full of the clearest salt water . The lagoon was also described as; having a bottom of solid blue clay and laying at the high water level while the flats surrounding it were about one metre above high tide... Because of its distance from the city and its unsuitability for residential development, the land in the area became the location for many noxious industries, such as abattoirs, fellmongeries , tanneries and rubbish depots. In 1873,

150-507: A settlement at Port Phillip. Some accounts state that Grimes acquired a block of land in Sydney from Robert Ryan. The land was a grant of 120 acres (0.49 km ) which comprised effectively the entire modern suburb of Kirribilli . Grimes sold the land to Robert Campbell in about 1806. Grimes obtained leave of absence and went to England in August 1803. It was nearly three years before he

175-621: The Footscray contractor, Michael Walsh, won a large state government contract to undertake further drainage. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the swamp margins and the bottom of Dudley Street became the site of a shantytown built by the unemployed, known as Dudley Flats . 37°48′48″S 144°55′59″E  /  37.813378°S 144.9330°E  / -37.813378; 144.9330 Charles Grimes (surveyor) Charles Grimes (24 February 1772 – 19 February 1858)

200-565: The German Emperor . Nonetheless, a grant of arms was later awarded to the family by the British monarch. Augustus was the third eldest of at least seven children, four boys and three girls, and possibly nine if another reported brother and sister are included. By 1755 Augustus was Ensign in the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot . In 1757 as Lieutenant he accompanied Sir John Mordaunt's expedition to Rochefort , France. From 1760 during

225-625: The Great Siege of Gibraltar , being appointed assistant Engineer there by Governor George Eliott in 1779. In 1781, he joined Colonel James Francis Erskine in trying to raise a battalion of Swiss Chasseurs for service with the East India Company . The venture was stopped by the Swiss authorities with Augustus and fellow officers being jailed for several months. In 1785, he was engineer for another thwarted venture with Erskine to assist

250-517: The Seven Years' War he served as aide-de-camp to General Henry Seymour Conway , and appears to have liaised with Prince Ferdinand. He ended up at the siege of Kassel in 1762, returning with the regiment in 1763, thereafter assisting it to build roads in Scotland until 1764. During late 1777 he helped raise the 72nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Manchester Volunteers) and served with that regiment at

275-669: The Fleet convicts in clearing the ground for the establishment of the first colonial buildings in Sydney Cove. Soon after his arrival in New South Wales Augustus laid out the settlements of Albion (later Sydney ), Parramatta and Tongabby (later Toongabbie ), as well as surveying early land-grants and compiling the records of these. Ill health incapacitated him early on and he had asked to be relieved in 1791, although he did not retire from active duty until 1797. He

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300-667: The Polish adventurer Count Maurice Benyovszky found a settlement in Madagascar . In May 1787, Alt was appointed Surveyor of Lands for Britain's proposed penal colony on the newly claimed Australian continent. Later that year he embarked aboard the convict transport Prince of Wales with the First Fleet under Commodore Arthur Phillip . They arrived at Botany Bay in mid-January 1788 and shortly after moved to Port Jackson , landing on 26 January 1788. On arrival, Alt supervised

325-549: The end of the year, and became involved in the deposition of Governor William Bligh in the Rum Rebellion on 26 January 1808. He was one of the members of a committee formed to examine the administration of Bligh, and was appointed acting judge-advocate. In this capacity, he sat at the token trial of John Macarthur . Grimes realised, however, that his lack of legal training made it difficult for him to act effectively in his judicial position and he resigned on 5 April 1808. He

350-583: The locality. Grimes is responsible for fully surveying the Hunter River in November 1801 with Francis Barrallier . In late 1802 Grimes commenced a survey of King Island and Port Phillip with Charles Robbins in Cumberland . On 30 January 1803, whilst on his survey of Port Phillip he and his party landed at Frankston where he met around thirty Indigenous people. On 2 February 1803 he reached

375-527: The mouth of the Yarra River . Next day Grimes ascended the river in a boat and explored what is now the Maribyrnong River for several miles. Returning to the Yarra it was explored for several miles but the boat was stopped by Dights Falls . The journal of another member of the party, James Flemming, has been preserved, and in it he several times refers to finding good soil. Although it was evidently

400-551: The same time, the outlet of Moonee Ponds Creek was widened to become Railway (Coal) Canal, diverting flood waters from the swamp, and providing direct water access for colliers from the coal port of Newcastle to the coaling facilities at the North Melbourne locomotive depot of the Victorian Railways . Appleton Dock was constructed in the 1950 at the outlet of Moonee Ponds Creek (Railway Canal). In 1907,

425-522: The service of the Landgrave in Sweden as Writer to Major General Ernst Hartmann von Diemar, with whom he moved to London in 1725 as Registrar. Henry successively became Secretary, Private Secretary, Counsellor, Minister, and, 1760, Privy Counsellor, until his death in 1768. In later life he assumed the title "Baron of Hesse-Kassel ," though its provenance is unclear as the title "Baron" was never awarded by

450-446: The swamp was considered from the mid-19th century, but did not commence in earnest until about 1877, when a steam-operated pump was set up near Brown's Hill at South Kensington, and drains dug along Swamp Road, which was later reconstructed as Dynon Road, connecting to West Melbourne. Draining began in earnest from around 1890, under the design and supervision of Public Works Department (Victoria) engineer William Thwaites (engineer) . At

475-558: Was an English surveyor who worked in colonial Australia. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and mapped the Yarra River in what is now the state of Victoria . During his career, he mapped the route of the Hobart Road, Tasmania 's main north–south arterial route. Much of the modern Midland Highway still follows the route that he planned. Grimes was born in Aylesbury , Buckinghamshire, England, son of Joseph Grimes,

500-496: Was back in Sydney. In March 1807 he was sent to Port Dalrymple , and using the advice of Thomas Laycock , who a month earlier had become the first European to traverse the interior of Tasmania , Grimes made a survey of the district and examined the route to Hobart . Much of the route he surveyed became the Hobart Road, and many sections of the original 1808 road still form part of the Midland Highway . Grimes returned at

525-485: Was employed correcting a previous survey which had been made without proper instruments, and he also undertook some of the administrative work. Grimes returned to Sydney in April 1794 and with the surveyor-general Augustus Alt being in bad health, he was required to take over most of Alt's work. In February 1795 he sailed north in the Francis and spent approximately one week at Port Stephens and reported unfavourably on

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550-469: Was officially re-opened on 16 September 2000. Augustus Alt Augustus Theodore Henry Alt (1731 – 9 January 1815) was a British soldier and Australia's first Surveyor-General . Augustus Theodore Harman Alt was born to father Jost Heinrich (anglicised to Just Henry), a Hessian , and mother Jeannetta Preston, a Scotswoman , probably in London , but possibly overseas, in 1731. Just Henry entered

575-526: Was officially relieved on half-pay in 1802 and succeeded by his deputy, surveyor Charles Grimes . At first, in his official capacity as he lived in the town of Sydney, then for many years afterwards on a large land grant, 'Hermitage Farm', at Ashfield about seven miles west (and now an inner western suburb). It is said that he moved to Parramatta c1810, or a little later. He died there on 9 January 1815. He had two children, Lucy and Henry, by convict Ann George but never married her. Ann died in 1814. Lucy died as

600-680: Was sent to England with dispatches that same month. Grimes was not well received in England, and his salary was held back for a long period because of his association with the mutineers. Grimes resigned his position on 18 July 1811. The following year he became a paymaster of the 13th Regiment of the British Army and served in Canada, Great Britain and India . He was appointed paymaster at the recruiting depot, Maidstone , in September 1833 and

625-625: Was transferred to Chatham, Kent in 1836. He retired from the army on a pension in July 1848, and died at Milton-next-Gravesend , Kent on 19 February 1858. Grimes had two sons in New South Wales by Elizabeth Matthews. In 1815 he married Cassandra Atkinson in Woodford, Essex, and they had four children. A bridge over the Yarra at Melbourne Docklands was named after him. Built in the 1970s, it has subsequently been substantially altered and

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