Cementing Fyansford's future

Whilst the Gen Fyansford development on the Moorabool so far only occupies the flats on the east bank of the river, the high ground further to the east of Hyland St is also part of the development and has its own extensive history.
With the arrival of European settlement and the development of Geelong during the gold rush, came the expected social problems and so it was deemed necessary to build an orphanage to house the destitute children of Geelong. The first site chosen was at Fyansford where the Protestant Orphanage Asylum was erected at the top of Fyansford Hill overlooking the Moorabool Valley below. Built in 1855 of local bluestone in the Gothic style, it was designed by Geelong architect Andrew McWilliams, winner of a design competition for the building. A north wing was added to the orphanage in 1857 then in 1865 a Common School designed by Joseph Lowe Shaw was built.

The Protestant Orphanage Asylum/Cement works Retirees Museum June, 2012

Surprisingly perhaps, it was not until 16th November, 1868 that the land where the buildings already stood was temporarily gazetted for use as a Protestant orphan asylum by the government. The area of land totalled just over 15.75 acres. On 7th February, 1881, this order was made permanent and then on 10th June, 1887 approximately 6.75 more acres adjacent to the existing land were also gazetted for the use of the orphanage.

The Protestant Orphanage Asylum 1873 showing the original building and newer
north wing (right). Image by Thomas Washbourne, reproduction rights held by the
State Library of Victoria

From 1889, the remainder of the land between the orphanage and Hyland St was leased by the  Australian Portland Cement Company (APC), established by Peter McCann to exploit the limestone deposit at nearby Batesford. On the low ground beneath Fyansford Hill the company established its cement works. The company operated with limited success over the following years. Liquidated in 1895, re-launched, liquidated again and opened a third time in 1904, it was not until 1912 - some four years after the death of Peter McCann - that the production process and equipment was modernised and the company found a more stable footing. By now, it was under the management of Wesely B McCann, Peter's youngest son.
Over the years, small portions of the original land grant to the orphanage were revoked for the benefit of the cement works. Initially, just prior to the opening of the railway line to Fyansford in 1918 a section was reclaimed for the Board of Land and Works (Railway) to enable the construction of the line to the cement works. Next, the ownership of a small portion of land at the north east corner of the orphanage block was transferred to the ownership of APC in 1927.
It was only around two years before this, on 13th January, 1925 that the company had finally purchased the land on which their works had stood for the past 35 years. In the same year APC also made another significant land purchase when it bought the "old Fairview gardens" (The Age, 2nd March, 1925) along with additional adjacent land, including many of the quarter acre blocks within the Fyansford township reserve which had first been sold in 1854. It was on this site that they built a new plant constructed of steel and concrete, modernising and expanding their operations and floating the company on the stock exchange as Australian Cement Ltd. 1926 also saw the opening of a private railway owned by the cement works which carried limestone from the quarry at Batesford to the new works.

An aerial view of the cement works showing the newly-erected plant on the
site of  the old 'Fairview Gardens'. Photographer Charled Daniel Pratt, 1926
 Image held by the State Library of Victoria

Unsurprisingly perhaps, the orphanage and cement works did not always make compatible bedfellows. On 12th October, 1912 the Geelong Advertiser reported that dust from the cement works was such a nuisance that there were concerns for the health of the children living at the orphanage. Not only did it settle on the grounds and the exterior of the buildings, but also in the dormitories where the boys slept. All would be resolved it was claimed, when new machinery arrived from Germany. Eventually however, in 1933 it was decided to relocate the orphanage to Belmont as the building at Fyansford was deemed too old and too close to the cement works.
The new building was located in Broughton Dr, Belmont where until 1955 it was known as the Geelong and Western District Protestant Orphanage after which it became Glastonbury - Geelong Protestant Orphanage. Today, the building is home to the junior school campus of Christian College Geelong.
At Fyansford, following the departure of the orphanage, the old buildings and the land at the top of the hill were sold to the cement works who used the property to build leisure facilities for its employees. The buildings were converted into a recreation hall, library, billiard room and concert hall whilst tennis courts, a bowling-green, a sports oval and a croquet-lawn were constructed on the additional land. For a time during the 1950s the orphanage building was used to house migrant workers, then in the late 1970s a museum collection was established in part of the building. Over the years it grew to become the Geelong Cement Works Retirees Museum which occupied most of the building.

The Fyansford Cement Works viewed from the south in 1996. Image taken by
Joyce Evans, downloaded from the National Library of Australia

The cement works closed in June, 2001, however the museum along with various sporting clubs continued to operate out of the site after the company's closure. Whilst the Geelong Cement Bowls Club is still in operation today, the museum closed in recent times and the collection was disbanded.
Whilst the orphanage buildings and bowling green still stand, the cement works buildings along with their iconic chimneys were demolished in 2004 to make way for a proposed residential development - Fyansford Green - the brainchild of Robert Moltoni, owner of Moltoni Group Pty Ltd who had been in talks with the City of Greater Geelong as early as 2001. Little remains of the cement works besides the silos which remain a prominent feature of the skyline above Fyansford Hill.

Remaining cement silos at Fyansford, September, 2016

Moltoni envisaged a 2,000 home residential development on both sides of the Moorabool river, utilising the former cement works land to the east and the disused quarry on the west bank of the river. To this end, significant environmental rehabilitation works were undertaken on the former cement works site and in 2008 the land was rezoned from industrial to residential.
In 2011 however, all these plans were put on hold when Moltoni Group ran into financial difficulties. Development of the area stalled until the land was sold to developers ICD Property who are now implementing the first stage of the Gen Fyansford development.

Gen Fyansford development, September, 2016

From ford to food bowl

My previous post looked at the early history of the land east of the Moorabool River which is fast shaping up as Gen Fyansford. European settlement began in 1837 with the arrival of Police Magistrate Foster Fyans and his men. Following their departure, there was little in the way of permanent settlement at the ford, however various Europeans did spend time in the district.
From November, 1838 Charles Wightman Sievwright, Assistant-protector of Aborigines made his home near Fyan's Ford until his dismissal from the post in 1842. By implication, like Fyans, he and his family lived in huts near the ford ("they crossed Fyans' Ford by Mr. Severight's huts" - Port Phillip Gazette, 30th October, 1841) where, during his short time in the role, he struggled to bring to the notice of the authorities, the problems caused for the indigenous peoples by the loss of traditional food sources. Sievwright also strove unsuccessfully, to have mass murders of Aboriginals prosecuted. Eventually, he was suspended and then dismissed from his post amidst allegations of incompetence. Attempts to establish a full inquiry were thwarted by the government as were his attempts in England from 1845 to clear his name (Australian Dictionary of Biography). He died there, penniless in 1855. His wife had died in Australia the previous year, leaving their seven children orphaned.

Miniature portrait of Charles Wrightman Sievwright c1825,
reproduction rights held by the State Library of Victoria

Next, in 1842 John Atkins opened the Fyans Ford Inn on the west bank of the river on land leased by the Mercers. The following year, races and stock sales were held at Fyans' Ford and settlers began to view the area as a desirable place to be. However, whilst I found reference to an area for a village reserve at Fyans' Ford as early as 1840 (Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, 12th October, 1840), I found no mention of the township being officially gazetted. According to survey maps, the first land sales occurred on 21st July, 1847. On this date, James Williamson and Thomas B Payne respectively purchased blocks 1 and 2 of section XIV in the Parish of Moorpanyal.
The map below shows a section of the parish survey map overlaid on Google Earth, including the two blocks which today are Gen Fyansford land. The red line indicates the boundaries of Gen Fyansford east of the Moorabool River.

Moorpanyal Parish survey map overlaid on Google Earth

As I described previously, block 2 became the site of the Fair View Hotel during the 1850s but I am unsure what use Payne may have made of the land prior to its becoming the hotel grounds. Nor can I find mention of Williamson occupying his land.
The following year on 15th December, 1848, the track to the top of Fyansford Hill (now Hyland St) was officially gazetted as a road (Port Phillip Government Gazette, No 52, 27 December 1848, p577). It passed through blocks 1 and 2 of Section XIV, however this may not have been a significant change as early paintings already show the track winding up Fyansford Hill from the river below.

Charles Norton's 1846 view of Fyansford Hill, showing the track running
from the Moorabool River to the top of the hill, Image held by the
State Library of Victoria

The land immediately to the south of Williamson's block up to today's Atkin's St also forms part of Gen Fyansford. At the time of the original survey, this land fell within the Fyansford town reserve and was mostly subdivided into quarter acre residential blocks which were sold at public auction on 23rd June, 1854, some seven years after the sale of the larger blocks to the north. Early photos show some houses and other buildings on the land by the late 1850s, but also many open, unfenced spaces.
 And there things stood until 20th November, 1867 when Edwin Hopton purchased two blocks of land along the river, totalling about 1 and 1/4 acres. Edwin was a noted local who lived for a time at 'Swanville', the original inn built by John Atkins on the west bank of the Moorabool, before moving to another Fyansford property which he called 'Woodlands' where he was a fruit-grower and vigneron. What use he made of the land on the east bank of the Moorabool or how long he owned it, I am unsure.
The next parcel of land to be purchased on the flats overlooking the river and also now part of Gen Fyansford, was an area of about 2 acres which was purchased on 29th May, 1877 by Henry King who with his father George, developed the property into one of the best-known plant nurseries and vineyards in the district: 'Fairview Gardens'. This small land purchase in 1877 appears to be a later acquisition as The Australasian (15th December, 1877) reported that the Kings had held their 26 acre property for around eight years, placing them in the district as early as 1869, although I found other newspaper articles suggesting the Kings' presence as fruit-growers at Fyansford as early as 1863.

Henry King in later life. Image provided courtesy
of the Bellarine Historical Society

By 1880 the Kings were in possession of 46 acres (including river frontage) and were advertising apple trees for sale, boasting many new strains recently introduced from America. The land included the sloping ground above the river with the vines planted on the fertile river flats below.
At this point, I am unable to determine exactly what land was incorporated in the 46 acres held by the Kings, however can only assume that it included some or all of the land originally purchased by James Williamson in 1847 and perhaps some of that originally owned by Thomas Payne and which became the grounds of the Fair View Hotel. Incidentally, I have no idea if the name of the gardens was in anyway connected to, or inspired by the name of the hotel, however the earliest mention I found of the gardens using the name was in 1876, the same year in which Margaret Greenwood - the last owner of the hotel - died.

Advert: Geelong Advertiser 21st August, 1880

In September, 1880, disaster struck when the Moorabool suffered one of the largest floods on record. Upstream, Hope's Flour Mill below Batesford was washed away as was the almost complete Sharp's Crossing bridge near Sheoaks. A number of other structures along the river were also damaged. At Fyansford, of 40 acres under cultivation by the Kings, 20 acres were inundated. Valuable topsoil was carried off and losses were estimated at £500. In addition to a large number of cherry trees, 10,000 apple trees, 500 elms, 600 mulberry trees and a number of gooseberry trees were also destroyed. Despite this setback, the Kings were still able to supply cherries, plums, apricots, apples, and strawberries to the fruit market that season along with trees and seedlings for the nurseries (Geelong Advertiser, 6th December, 1880).
Flooding was not the only setback suffered by the Kings. Initially, in addition to the trees, fruit, vegetables and seedlings, they also planted grapes and it was claimed that their vineyard was one of the best-kept and most productive in the colony. That was, until 1878 when the 'Fairview Gardens' was one of the first properties to be struck by the tiny, sap-sucking insect known as phylloxera. According to the Geelong Advertiser of 16th July, 1878 the pest spread from Charles Wyatt's Frogmore Nursery, located less than 2 miles away on the Barwon River to the Kings' property on the Moorabool. Presumably the Kings had purchased infected stock from Mr Wyatt. As became standard practise, all vines on the property were dug up (April, 1878) and as far as possible, even the smallest rootlets removed to eradicate the pest. From this point, the Kings focused on their other growing interests.

Looking north west across the site of the 'Fairview Gardens', June, 2016

In these early years, water for the gardens was supplied from the Geelong water mains at a rate of £10 per year, however the supply was expensive and often inadequate so in1880 the Kings erected a windmill which would pump water from the river up to three 400 gallon tanks on higher ground (Geelong Advertiser, 6th December, 1880). Conveniently, Alfred King - Henry's brother - was a plumber with works located in Ryrie St. It was he who built the windmill erected at 'Fairview Gardens'. An 1882 reference in the same paper to "Mr King's windmill" suggests that the windmill was in place by that year. 
(NOTE: in both the 1926 image below and the image "dated" 1939 in the post to follow this one, two large holes which I think may be two of the 400 gallon tanks can be seen at the bend near the top of Hyland St. If so, then much of the 'Fairview Gardens' was located on the blocks of land originally owned by James Williamson and Thomas Payne.)
Over the following years, advertisements for the gardens appeared regularly in the newspapers until 1889 when the Kings decided to sell up. The property was sold on a boom market to a group of local investors whose initial intention was to subdivide and sell the land. Instead, they decided to continue the operation, retaining Henry King as manager and on 8th July, 1889 their business was registered under the name of the Fairview Gardens Company Ltd.
One of their first moves after taking possession of the property was to apply to establish a pump capable of taking 8,000 gallons of water per hour from the river. The intention was to carry the water through an 8 inch mains pipe to a 30,000 gallon cement and brick-lined reservoir further up the riverbank which would be refilled with river water every four days. From here, 6 inch pipes would distribute water to the gardens. Unsurprisingly, various community members were unhappy with this plan, fearing that during the summer months they would be left without enough water for their own purposes.
A group headed by local vintner and businessman Edwin Hopton took their complaint to parliament, suggesting instead, that the government should build a plant which would be controlled by a trust for the benefit of the entire community. Their complaint however did not receive a sympathetic hearing. Damming the river was also ruled out as it was feared this would create issues with flooding along the river flats upstream. The Fairview Gardens Co it seemed would have its water.
From this point onwards, the company successfully traded until 1904 when it was unanimously decided at an extraordinary general meeting of the company to go into liquidation. The property was placed on the market and on 17th September 1904 the following advertisement was placed in the Geelong Advertiser:

 Fairview Gardens for sale:

comprising 45 acres or thereabouts of rich river flats, about 10 acres, planted with the choices of fruit trees, and the remainder now under growing crop, has a large frontage to the river Moorabool and main road. The improvements comprise three capital good 4 and 6-roomed cottages, and all necessary outbuildings, stabling, etc., also an extensive irrigation plant, with engine, piping and windmills; besides a supply commanding about 9 acres from the Geelong water main. Extensive marl pit on the property.

Whilst the property did not sell at auction, it was purchased only a month or so later by John Ince, a local businessman and politician who after a short stint in the Victorian Legislative Assembly (December, 1877-January, 1880) served as councillor and mayor of Geelong West between 1875 and 1890.

,John Ince, Mayor of Geelong West and owner of
'Fairview Gardens'. Image held by the State Library
of Victoria

Ince's tenure at 'Fairview Gardens' was somewhat shorter than previous owners and by November, 1915 the property was on the market. In March the following year, by now listed for lease by the trustees of Ince's deceased estate and given the title 'Fairview Farm'.
The King family meanwhile, did not move too far from their Fyansford gardens. In retirement George King and his wife Elizabeth lived at a property in Marshall St, Chilwell and it was there on 21st November, 1894 that George died. He was described by The Age as "a colonist of 40 years". His wife Elizabeth survived him by a further six years, dying at Marshall St in 1900.

Graves of George and Elizabeth King (left) and Henry and Ruth King (right)
at the Western General Cemetery, Herne Hill, September, 2016

Henry meanwhile, after the sale of the property, was invited to take up the role of Inspector of Fruit for the Geelong region, a position for which he was well qualified. At the time of Henry's death on 19th September, 1913 at the age of 76 he and his wife - Ruth - were living not far from 'Fairview Gardens' in Upper Skene St, Newtown. Henry was buried beside his parents at the Western General Cemetery in Herne Hill. Ruth died at the age of 79 in 1921 and was buried with her husband.

Ruth King (neé Wise). Image provided courtesy of
the Bellarine Historical Society

As for the 'Fairview Gardens' their days were also numbered. In 1925, the Australian Portland Cement Company (or the Fyansford Cement Works as they are locally known) purchased the the gardens along with other neighbouring properties, thus spelling the end of what was by all accounts a very productive and attractive part of Fyansford's history.

Image by Charles Daniel Pratt dated 1939, however the photo is clearly pre-
1925 as the cement works railway and new plant are yet to be built
(see below), however here is also little (if any) sign of 'Fairview Gardens'.
Image held by the Victorian State Library

Wormbete Creek - powering Victoria's industry

Last week I took a look at The Powerhouse in North Geelong. Originally this was the Geelong B Power Station, built in 1954 from a package plant shipped from the USA and which operated until 1970 when it was decommissioned.

Construction of the Geelong B Power Station, image held by Museum Victoria

In its day, the station featured the largest steam-driven plant outside Yallourn, capable of generating 30,000 kilowatts of power which was then fed into the state grid. The plant was fuelled by brown coal and in its earliest years of operation, it burnt coal mined from the Wensley Brae Coal Mine, located on the west branch of Wormbete Creek in the Winchelsea South area of Western Victoria. It is this mine which provides the link I was seeking between the power station and the Barwon River.
The east and west branches of Wormbete Creek flow down from the Otway Ranges, meeting at a point about 9km south of Winchelsea and about 4km south of the creek's confluence with the Barwon. Today, the Wurdale Landcare group are working to preserve the Wormbete Creek catchment area through revegetation, salinity and erosion control measures and the establishment of riparian zones.

Wormbete Creek west branch from Coal Mine Road, below the site of the
Wensley Brae coal mine

In the early days of European settlement however priorities were different and the district was surveyed to establish the presence of mineral resources. Some information suggests that coal deposits along the west branch of Wormbete Creek were mined on a small scale as early as the 1850s, however this is uncertain. What is known is that during a drought period in 1914, coal was discovered along the west branch of Wormbete Creek by Bert Armistead and Ken Strickland who were sinking wells.
With plentiful timber available as a fuel source and the difficulties inherent in transporting coal from a relatively remote area, mining activity in the region was minimal and so it was not until 1921 that the Wensley Brae Coal Mine - also known as the Wensleybrae, Wensley Bray, Wensleydale, Winchelsea South or Bambra Coal Mine - first opened. The initial owners were the Western District Coal Mines Pty Ltd who initially drilled small exploratory tunnels to access the coal seams, however operations were soon taken over by the Otway Coal Company Ltd and the venture switched to open cut mining which continued until 1934.

View of the "Wensleydale" Mine taken c1949-1951, image taken from
http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/219254/COAL_pp_158_207.pdf

Coal from the mine was sold to local industries in the Geelong area including the Fyansford Cement Works which were previously dependent on an unreliable supply of coal from New South Wales. The Ford Motor Company also purchased coal from Wensley Brae as did most of Geelong's woollen mills. With the completion of the Geelong B Power Station in 1954, this facility also used coal sourced from Wensley Brae.
The coal was initially transported to Geelong by road using trucks, however in 1925 a ropeway was opened which carried the coal from the mine to a purpose-built siding at Wensleydale railway station. This was the head of a short branch line running from Moriac Station on the Geelong-Port Fairy (now Warrnambool) line. The branch had opened in 1890 to carry gravel and timber.

Map showing the site of Wensley Brae mine in relation to the Wensleydale
branch line. Crosses mark the ropeway running between the mine and the station.
Image taken from
http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/219254/COAL_pp_158_207.pdf

During its first phase of operation, only about 16,000 tons of coal was mined from the site before operations ceased in 1934. The following year due to continued pressure from mining interests in New South Wales, the company went into liquidation and the mine sat idle for eight years until 1943.
When the mine reopened in 1943 under the ownership of Wensley Bray Coal Mine Pty Ltd, operations ramped up considerably, but the ropeway - which was damaged in the 1939 Black Friday bushfires - was never used again. By 1947 production stood at 1,400 tons per week and it was anticipated that the purchase of two new excavators from the Philippines by the State Electricity Commission (SEC) would increase production to 8-10,000 tons per week. Numerous newspaper reports in late 1947 indicated that the equipment was destined for use removing overburden at Wensley Brae.
 In June, 1948 however, a political stoush developed when then Victorian state opposition leader John Cain claimed that the government of the day was withholding the equipment purchased by the SEC. The government responded that at no time had it or the SEC guaranteed that the machinery would be made available specifically to the Wensley Brae mine and that it would deploy the equipment where it saw fit. It also indicated that servicing the equipment was problematical as there were not enough spare parts to keep this and other large machinery in the state operational at the same time.
Production it claimed was now at 70 tons per week but that this would increase to 4,000-5,000 tons per week using proper equipment. It also indicated that if the privately-owned mine could not increase its output then the government would probably buy the site. The same month, the mine proprietors entered into a deal with Melbourne company Roche Bros Pty Ltd to ramp up production which they claimed stood at 1,500 tons per week at that time - more than double the amount claimed by the Minister for Mines. Under this new operator, the coal was transported to Winchelsea where special coal trains carried the coal to Geelong, parts of the western district, Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo.

A coal seam running down the wall of the quarry looking from Coal Mine Rd

By August, 1948 the government was keen to show its support for the local coal industry and floated a raft of measures aimed at supporting the industry in the face of competition from New South Wales. These measures included providing housing for workers, subsidies for Victorian coal which was in any case selling much cheaper than NSW coal, money to purchase earthmoving equipment from the USA and the provision of the promised equipment to Wensley Brae.

Remains of mining activities? Near Coal Mine Rd

The support was ongoing and in July, 1950 the government indicated that it would provide additional prefabricated housing for miners working at Wensley Brae amongst other measured designed to treble the 4,000 ton per week capacity at which it was operating. The increased demand for brown coal at this time was in response to a state-wide move to brown coal from black.
At the same time, the government backed away from plans to buy the mine outright, despite an offer of sale in August by the owners who indicated they would sell to the government for £135,000 under a deal which would see Roche Bros Pty Ltd continue to operate the mine for a royalty of 2/ per ton.
By April, 1951 however, Victoria was facing a fuel shortage and the government had another change of heart and purchased the mine for £150,000 with the intention of having the contractors pay a royalty as suggested. It was estimated that the mine would produce a minimum of 400,000 tons of coal per year.
In late March, 1952, the mine nearly met with disaster when it was threatened by a 500 acre bushfire which came within a few hundred metres of the open cut. It was turned back at the last minute by a wind change and fire breaks which had been ploughed by five bulldozers from the mine which also had its floor covered with water to prevent embers from setting the valuable coal alight.
The mine continued to operate until 1959 when it was decided that coal deposits at Anglesea could be more easily mined than those at Wesley Brae which was then closed down. At its peak, production reached 10,000 tons per week and the mine employed 200 men. In total, there were estimated to be about 4 million tons of coal in the deposit. By the time the mine finally closed, up to 2.5 million tons (some estimates say 3 million tons) of coal had been extracted. Further details of the mine can be found here.

Views of the lake from the direction of Coal Mine Rd

Following its closure, the mine was flooded to a depth of 60m, forming a lake. I am unsure who currently owns the site but it would seem that the lake is still used for water sports today.


Views of the lake from the direction of Coal Mine Rd

Glimpses of the lake can be seen from Coal Mine Road.



Branching out: a Moorabool paddle - rushing around

The final part of Saturday's expedition was less of a paddle and more of a hike - towing the kayaks up and down the rather steep banks of the Moorabool River at this point. After a rocky start to our paddle (described here) from Batesford Bridge followed by a relatively easy 3km section in which we traversed the re-routed section of the river around Batesford Quarry as described in my previous "changing course" post, we exited the formed channel and almost immediately found ourselves confronted by an almost impenetrable wall of reeds.

Into the reeds

There had been a few patches upstream which we'd worked through and around and we did the same here. Once on the other side we found a wide pool and some easy paddling, however as the river narrowed only a short distance away, we were confronted by more reeds. Once again we proceeded to plough our way through, emerging into a small cleared section - much to the surprise of two fishermen standing on the bank.

Pool in the Moorabool below the Ring Road

We gave them a wave and on we went. Another clear section appeared as we approached the remains of the old trestle bridge - part of the Fyansford Cement Works railway which ran between 1924 and 1966 to carry limestone from the Batesford Quarry to the works.

Overlooking the site of the trestle bridge, part of the Fyansford Cement Works
private railway, with the Geelong Ring Road on the rise beyond 

Here however, we could go no further so we hauled the kayaks up the bank and, seeing more trouble ahead, cut across a bend, dropping back to the river once again in another clear section, however, after another short paddle we were out again and then once again.

A pretty little pocket amongst the reeds

This time, we followed the river some 500m past a number of reed-choked sections to the remains of the conveyor belt which carried limestone between quarry and works after the closure of the railway.
From here we were once again able to get on the water and with only a couple of short sections requiring us to haul the kayaks until by early evening we found ourselves paddling under the Lewis Bandt Bridge on the Ring Road.

Lewis Bandt Bridge, Geelong Ring Road

I have looked at this bridge in passing in a previous post and talked briefly about the man himself who was responsible for designing that iconic Australian vehicle - the ute, so I won't elaborate further here.

The places junk can end up!

From this point onwards it was (fortunately) a relatively simple paddle back to Fyansford. Sadly, most of the river through this section is overgrown with exotic plantings and the water quality does not appear as good as further upriver - but this is just my observation. It is also worth noting however, that community activity in the form of weed removal and native revegetation is beginning to occur along the river banks near town.
Then finally, we were faced with one final hurdle - a log jam created I suspect from the dead branches of the woody weeds we had been passing over the last few hundred metres, so for one final time, we dragged the kayaks up the bank, around the logs and dropped back into the water for the paddle to our finishing point - the historic Monier bridge at Fyansford, built in 1900.

Old Monier bridge at Fyansford with the current bridge just visible behind

And so after five hours of rocks, prickles, boxthorn, ants, bees, rushes, reeds, barbed wire and leeches we were finally done. Not exactly a "paddle" I would recommend, however a very interesting part of the Moorabool to have seen at close quarters.

Branching out: a Moorabool paddle - changing course

After negotiating the rocks, weed and fallen branches in the section of the Moorabool directly below Batesford during our "paddle" on Saturday, we emerged to find ourselves confronted instead by a manmade obstacle. On the bank above us was a handrail following what looked like a pathway. In the river were large chunks of broken concrete and a little further downstream, the bank was lined with concrete and bluestone.

Apparent pathway with handrail and large chunks of concrete breaking down

What we had arrived at was the beginning of a section of the river which was diverted from its original course.

River bank to the right lined with concrete and bluestone

The reason for the diversion however, dates back millions of years to the Miocene period when much of the surrounding land was covered by seawater. As a result, large deposits of limestone built up, formed from the shells of millions of sea creatures, some of which are still found in fossilised form today. European settlers arriving in the 19th century were quick to realise the potential of these deposits and in 1880, Peter McCann (whose descendants still own much of the surrounding land) registered the Australian Portland Cement Co Ltd and commenced production at nearby Fyansford. Struggling to make a profit in the face of cheap imports and using inefficient production methods, the company went into liquidation in 1895 and again in 1904. Peter died in 1908, leaving the nucleus of a profitable enterprise which, under his youngest son Wesley B McCann who acted as manager, was modernised and overhauled. By 1911 the company came under the control of a group of investors and in July, 1912 as part of the move to modernise the company, a ropeway constructed to carry limestone from the quarry to the cement works (then located at the bottom of the deviation). It was officially opened by the Premier on 12th July, replacing horse-drawn wagons and a section of horse-drawn tramway.

Initially, lime used in the production of cement at the works was quarried from a site just north of the Moorabool River (by my reckoning on a line roughly south of Pennsylvania Ave in Batesford). Lime was crushed on the quarry floor and transported to the works via the ropeway.


Concrete-lined channel above the site of the first quarry

In 1924 the ropeway was replaced by a privately-owned 3'6" gauge railway line which ran from the site of the original quarry, crossing the Moorabool twice on wooden trestle bridges, back to the plant.

Image of the Vulcan Engine #4 crossing the trestle bridge 28th November, 1964.
Image from Weston Langford Railway Photography

In 1931, operations were moved to a second quarry site, which had been developed south of the Moorabool. This is the quarry which is still in use today. To service the new facility, a second section of line was constructed, including a branch which allowed for the dumping of overburden and a 1.3km tunnel - the longest in Victoria until the Melbourne city loop was built - which followed a curving path up from the quarry floor to join the original line west of the second river crossing.

Remains of pylons which supported the trestle bridge

All that can be seen of the second trestle bridge today are some wooden stumps, sticking up above the river's surface. I saw no sign of the more northerly bridge.
Following the closure of the original quarry a section of the river was redirected through the old excavations, away from the face of the new quarry. I don't know for sure, but the concrete lining the river upstream of the present quarry (as shown in the photos above) may date to this period.


Diagram showing the rough layout of railway line running between the quarries and the cement works, taken from Light Railways, vol 120, April 1993 which also contains a more comprehensive history of the quarries.

In 1925 the Australian Portland Cement Company was floated on the stock exchange as Australian Cement Ltd and continued to grow, acquiring a number of other companies over the years, to become Australia's largest cement producer, with production rising to 500,000 tons per annum by 1961 when Wesley McCann retired. The railway operated throughout this time, with one diesel and eleven steam engines either shunting on the quarry floor or hauling trucks up and down the 5.6 km line. At the time of its decommissioning in 1966, the diesel and six of the steam locomotives were still in use. All six of these remaining steam engines were preserved and can now be found at the Bellarine Railway whilst the diesel was also preserved but is housed elsewhere.


The floor of the new quarry, showing the diesel and one of the Vulcan engines
as well as the entrance to the tunnel

With the closure of the line, a new method of carting the limestone was needed. To this end, a limestone crusher was installed on the quarry floor with the crushed rock then transferred to a conveyor belt which carried it to the works above. The remains of the conveyor cross the river about 1km south west of the old train bridge and can be seen in passing from the Ring Road.

Remains of the conveyor belt crossing the Moorabool River with the
cement works in the background

In 1980 a bid to extend both the life of the quarry and the supply of lime for the cement works, a proposal was put forward by the company to divert a 4km section of the Moorabool River which was overlying part of the limestone deposit. Moving the river, would add a further 50 years to the lifespan of the quarry, however report by the Ministry for Conservation stated that the increase in lime production would also increase the salinity of the groundwater (which at that time was being returned to the Moorabool) to unacceptable levels.
In the end, a 2.6km diversion of the Moorabool was created with - the company claimed - due consultation as to the needs of flora, fauna and water quality and included measures such as natural curves, tree plantings and pools which would provide habitat for platypus. With these measures in place, the diversion went ahead and to the present day, the river runs through a concrete-lined channel in varying states of repair, along its new course and it was this section of the river which we now found ourselves paddling through in relative comfort. In some places the river was a shallow trickle over a concrete bed, in others, the concrete had broken and fallen away in chunks and there were occasional patches which seemed to have returned to a more natural state.

A section where the concrete appears to have broken away, with an unlined
pool behind, close to the site of the original quarry.

This persisted until we reached a more formed section of the channel which begins at the outflow point from the Batesford Quarry. As far as I can tell, the chute through which the water is returned to the river was constructed at the same time as the realignment took place. Only water which did not exceed acceptable levels of salinity was returned to the river with the remainder pumped to Corio Bay. Google Earth shows water flowing through the chute in January, 2010, but dry as early as 2004 and as late as 2013, either side of this date.

Outflow chute from the nearby quarry

Now, however, it is flowing and in use as a result of an environmental win for the Moorabool which occurred in 2011 when the then Victorian Coalition Government reached an agreement with various water and environmental authorities and the current quarry owner Adelaide Brighton Cement Ltd (ABCL), to return ground water pumped from the quarry, to the Moorabool instead of the bay. The agreement allowed for a return of about 8 mega litres per day (around 3,000 mega litres per year) to the lower Moorabool River, helping to improve environmental flow levels below that point for both the Moorabool and the Barwon Rivers.
Immediately below the outflow, the channel is much more formed, with high walls rising to at least a couple of metres - giving the impression of paddling through a drain - for several hundred metres before returning to lower, concrete-lined banks.


High-walled channel

Paddling down the channel

Every few hundred metres from the outflow until the end of the realignment are little weirs which presumably regulate the flow of water as it travels down a fall of about 12m to the end of the channel. At this point, the diversion ends and the river returns to its natural state and original course, passing only a few hundred metres below the Ring Road.


A series of five small weirs in the channel below the walled section

Below this point are the remains of both the trestle bridge and the conveyor belt shown above.
I will finish this post at the end of the channel and with the end of an era. In 2001, the owners of the Fyansford Cement Works (by that time, Adelaide Brighton Cement Ltd) decided to close the plant. But what to do with the quarry? Operating for over 100 years and with more than 100 million tonnes of limestone and overburden extracted by 2001, there remained enough limestone to keep the quarry operational for at least another thirty years.
Other markets had to be found, so Adelaide Brighton Ltd in conjunction with the McCann family developed new products and sourced new buyers. Today, according to their website, they supply a range of lime products both for construction and agricultural purposes and have also taken the opportunity to develop a range of crushed rock toppings and several fine sand products, which come from a layer of sand underlying the limestone which was not previously utilised during the cement works era.

A ride to remember

This weekend sees thousands of cyclists once again take to the streets and roads around Geelong, this time in the inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The elite men's race will take place tomorrow (Sunday) around a course in part based on the route used during the 2010 UCI World Championships.
This morning however, it was the turn of the citizens when at 7am, almost 4,000 riders left the Geelong Waterfront on a community ride over a distance of either 65km or 111km. All riders head first to Barwon Heads, with the short course riders heading back to Geelong whilst those on the long course followed a similar route to be taken by the elite riders, heading next to Torquay and Bells Beach before returning via an inland route through Moriac to Geelong to take on the seriously nasty hill-climbs of Challambra Crescent, Melville Ave and "Cementies Hill" on the way back to the Waterfront.
Whilst I wasn't up early enough to watch the riders depart, I did come across the tail end of the bunch making their way across the Barwon at Queen's Park before heading up Melville Ave.

Riders in the Momentum Energy Community Ride crossing the Queen's Park Bridge

Some were making harder work of it than others this late in the ride, but spirits still seemed generally high.

Riders heading up "Joey's Hill" to Melville Ave

Meanwhile, things got a little more serious with the start of the elite women's race at 11:30am. I grabbed a spot on the Breakwater Bridge, settled in and waited for the fun to start - and it didn't take long. Within 10 minutes of the race start, I could see the media helicopters overhead and then the support vehicles and media bikes began appearing, accompanied by a sizeable squad of Geelong's finest flashing their reds and blues.

One of four media helicopters covering the race

In a matter of seconds, the peloton appeared around the corner...

The peloton sweeping around the corner over the bridge

...and then just as quickly, they were gone..

The rear of the peloton crossing the Breakwater Bridge

Meanwhile above the river, one of the local White-faced Herons was forced to share airspace with a much larger type of bird:

There were several birds in the sky today.

Then, while the peloton headed off to take in the sights of Barwon Heads and the Great Ocean Road, I headed for "Cementies" (Hyland Rd in Fyansford which runs up beside the cement works). I arrived (via bike) in time to take up pole position on the seat half way up. There were a couple of other amateur snappers already waiting a little further up the hill and as we waited...and waited...well past the expected time of arrival, several more of the locals wandered down for a look.


One of Cadel's boys sussing out the course

At one point, a couple of the men's teams headed past - no doubt checking out the route for tomorrow's race - then we were treated to the spectacle of local Geelong West legend Sebastian Flaccavento slogging his way up the hill on one of his tiny bikes. He had his seat up nice and high today as he does for long rides, so I can only assume that he was the last rider through in the earlier community ride (the long course...of course).

Sebastian making his way up "Cementies"

After Sebastian came and went, we continued to wait. By now I had become quite well-acquainted with the lady standing to my left who then introduced me to a friend who also arrived. And still we waited. I know that the riders had expressed concern about the high winds forecast leading up to the race and I suspect their concerns were justified.


Not long to wait now...

It was not until about 2:30pm that the lead rider appeared around the corner and headed up the final hill. This as it turned out, was South Australian rider Rachel Neylan from the Building Champions Squad who made her move up Melville Ave and managed to hold off Valentina Scandolara from Orica - AIS and Tessa Fabry from High5 Dream Team to take the win.

Orica - AIS rider Amanda Spratt climbing the hill

After the lead riders passed, we waited in vain for any sight of a peloton. It seems the hills had taken their toll and the group pictured below was the largest remaining.

The remains of the peloton heading up

The tight bunch which had crossed the Barwon at Breakwater, had been torn to shreds by the time the riders climbed the hill above the Moorabool and somehow I doubt they had time to appreciate the view!

Looking past the riders to the Ring Road and the Lewis Bandt Bridge over the
Moorabool River