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Dights Falls

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Coordinates: 37°47′49″S 145°00′04″E / 37.797002°S 145.001131°E / -37.797002; 145.001131
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Dights Falls
The weir across the Yarra River showing the silurian sandstone hillside
Dights Falls is located in Melbourne
Dights Falls
Dights Falls
Location of the weir
in Greater Metropolitan Melbourne
Map
Interactive map of Dights Falls
CountryAustralia
LocationAbbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria
Coordinates37°47′49″S 145°00′04″E / 37.797002°S 145.001131°E / -37.797002; 145.001131
Purpose
StatusOperational
Opening datec. 1839
Built byJohn Dight
Designed byWilliam Thwaites
OperatorMelbourne Water
Dam and spillways
Type of damBarrage
ImpoundsYarra River
Official name
Dights Mill Site
TypeRegistered place
Designated20 August 1982
Reference no.H1522
HO48, HO488
Category
Manufacturing and Processing

Dights Falls is a rapid and weir across the Yarra River, located in Abbotsford, Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. The weir is situated downstream of the Yarra's confluence with Merri Creek, south of where the Eastern Freeway crosses the creek. At Dights Falls, the Yarra narrows and is constricted between 800,000-year-old volcanic, basaltic lava flow and a much older steep, silurian, sedimentary spur. The north side also contains abundant graptolite fossils in sedimentary sandstone.[1][2]

History

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The weir is located on the traditional lands of Wurundjeri. The rock falls would have provided the Aboriginal people with a natural river crossing and place to trap migrating fish. It was also a meeting place for many clans where they would trade, settle disputes[3][4] and exchange brides.

Colonial discovery

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In January 1803, Charles Grimes, the deputy surveyor-general of the Colony of New South Wales, was sent to Port Phillip to survey the area.[5] Sailing on the schooner Cumberland, under the command of Acting Lieutenant Charles Robbins, the party entered Port Phillip on 20 January 1803. Grimes explored the Yarra by boat for several miles until he reached Dights Falls on 8 February. The event is commemorated by a historic marker on a ridge above the falls to the east:

"first white men to discover the river Yarra reaching Yarra Falls on 8th February, 1803. Also to make the first crossing near here with the cattle by the first overlanders John Gardiner, Joseph Hawdon and Captain John Hepburn in December 1836."

Use as a power source

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In 1839, John Dight, a flour miller previously based in Campell Town, New South Wales, purchased a block of land next to the falls and in 1841, built a water-powered mill there. He built a small weir on the natural bar of basalt boulders to regulate water for the water wheel.[6] The property changed hands several times over the decades until the mill was destroyed by fire in the early 1900s. The site remains one of Melbourne's oldest and most significant industrial sites;[7] and, as of 1999, consisted of the remains of the head race, tail race, turbine house, retaining wall, and weir.[8]

The weir was upgraded in 1895 for the Melbourne Flour Milling Company, which had acquired the former Yarra Falls Roller Mill, which were the largest capacity water-power system in Victoria at the time of construction, and technically Victoria's first hydro-electric plant.[8] It underwent reconstruction work in 1918, 1940, and 1967, following damaging floods.[6]

At the instigation of William Guilfoyle, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Dight's Falls Pumping Station was built and opened in 1891 under the direction of William Thwaites. The pumping station was located just below the weir on the opposite side of the Yarra to avoid competition with the privately owned mill.[9] The Dight's Falls Pumping Scheme supplied much-needed fresh water to the Alexandra Gardens and Royal Botanic Gardens in the Domain Parklands. The Dights Falls Scheme was the Garden's primary source of fresh water from the 1890s to the 1930s and was key in ensuring the survival of the Gardens when other sources proved unreliable.[10]

From 1893, water from the scheme was used by the Melbourne Hydraulic Power Company to power lifts in the city centre, enabling the early construction of Melbourne's distinctive tall buildings.[11] The former mill was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 20 August 1982 in recognition of its social, historical, archaeological, scientific and technical significance.[8]

Modern history

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With the eventual transition to mains water at the Gardens and electric lifts in City buildings, the pumping station was decommissioned and demolished in 1964.[12]

In 1993, Melbourne Water recognised that the weir was a major obstacle to fish migration up the Yarra River, and installed a fish ladder. Subsequent research found it "is not functioning adequately and will require modifications to improve its efficiency and effectiveness".[13][14] To address the issue, between 2010 and 2012, Melbourne Water replaced the weir and constructed a new fishway.[15][16]

Contemporary use

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Walmer Street Bridge
Eastern side of the bridge
Coordinates37°47′50″S 145°00′03″E / 37.7972°S 145.0008°E / -37.7972; 145.0008
Carries
CrossesYarra River
LocaleRichmond (west)
BeginsKew (east)
Preceded byFairfield Pipe Bridge
Followed byVictoria Bridge
Characteristics
DesignPratt truss
MaterialWrought iron
Pier constructionBrick
History
Opened1891; 135 years ago (1891)
Official name
Walmer Street Bridge
TypeRegistered place
CriteriaA
Designated7 January 2021
Reference no.H2401
Categories
  • Utilities - Water
  • Transport - Road
Location
Map
Interactive map of Walmer Street Bridge
References
[10]

Located approximately 1.65 kilometres (1 mi)[17] to the south of the falls is the Walmer Street Bridge, a former aqueduct that is a surviving remnant of the Dights Falls Scheme. Completed in 1891, the wrought iron Pratt truss girder bridge is no longer in use as an aqueduct and was converted for contemporary use as part of the Yarra River Trail, connecting Abbotsford with Kew within the Yarra Bend Park. The former aqueduct was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 7 January 2021 in recognition of its historical significance.[10]

The Dights Falls rapid is often used for canoeing, and has been used many times for the Victorian Canoe Slalom Championships.

Magpies occupy the area, and it is said that the Collingwood Football Club's use of the magpie mascot was inspired by the magpies at Dights Falls.[18]

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  • The falls at Abbotsford
    The falls at Abbotsford
  • Pedestrian on the bridge, looking south
    Pedestrian on the bridge, looking south
  • Surface of the Trail, 2024
    Surface of the Trail, 2024

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Merri Creek Geological Sites: Site 1 Studley Park/Dights Falls, Kew - Melbourne Formation, retrieved 29 March 2011
  2. ^ "Yarra Bend Park - Geology" (PDF), Parks Victoria, November 2007, archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2011, retrieved 2011-03-31
  3. ^ "22: Strata of Memory", The Aboriginal History of Yarra, retrieved 26 July 2020
  4. ^ "Wurundjeri Welcome to Country" performed by Wurundjeri Elder, Colin Hunter Jr (streaming video). Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2020 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ Fleming, James (2002), Currey, John (ed.), A journal of Grimes' survey : the Cumberland in Port Phillip January-February 1803, Malvern, Victoria: Banks Society Publications, p. 43, ISBN 0-949586-10-2
  6. ^ a b "A Short History of Dights Falls" (PDF). Melbourne Water. Waterways Alliance.
  7. ^ Kleinman, Rachel (8 November 2007). "Engineers to right John Dight's flawed falls". The Age. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  8. ^ a b c "Dights Mill Site, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H1522, Heritage Overlay HO48,HO488". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  9. ^ Lamb, Rohan (1996), "Under Pressure: the evolution of the water supply system of the Royal Botanic Gardens", Victorian Historical Journal, 67 (247): 66–82
  10. ^ a b c "Walmer Street Bridge, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H2401". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  11. ^ Miles, Pierce (2008), The Melbourne Hydraulic Power Company and Public Hydraulic Power Systems in Australia, Institution of Engineers Australia
  12. ^ Cummings, Karen, Dight's Falls Pumping Station (PDF), Collingwood Historical Society, retrieved 30 August 2024
  13. ^ Zampatti, Brenton; Koster, Wayne; Crook, David (2003), Assessment of the Rock-Ramp Fishways at Dights Falls, Lower Yarra River, Melbourne (PDF), Freshwater Ecology Section, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, ISBN 1-74106-607-7, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2012, retrieved 2011-07-26
  14. ^ Ker, Peter (15 September 2009). "Dights Falls blocks migrating grayling". The Age. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  15. ^ "Dights Falls Weir and Fishway Project", Melbourne Water, retrieved 29 July 2011
  16. ^ Dights Falls weir and fishway completion (streaming video). Melbourne Water. November 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2025 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ "Distance calculator" (inpupt of start and end point coordinates is required). latlongdata.com. n.d. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
  18. ^ Main, Jim (2008), Aussie Rules: For Dummies (2nd ed.), Australia: Wiley, p. 181
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