A new guide booklet form Earth Resources Victoria has unveiled the little-known history of some of the State’s best-known public spaces.
Announcing the release of The New Lives of Old Quarries: Innovative Development After Quarrying Ceases, Minister for Resources, Jaala Pulford said the booklet detailed the State’s history of transforming former work sites into places for recreation, fishing, shopping and housing.
“All Nations Park in Northcote produced clay for bricks from the 1870s and Valley Lake in Niddrie was a source for basalt between the 1940s and 1970s,” Ms Pulford said.
“Highpoint was a quarry for almost a century from the 1870s and provided basalt for roads,” she said.
“The Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne produced sand for concrete and bricklaying before its transformation while Albert Park Lake and Princes Park were also once quarries, though little is known of the operations that took place there.”
Ms Pulford said Fitzroy Gardens, on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD, was a bluestone quarry for a decade from about 1839.
“Large holes left from the digging were reportedly filled with rubbish, creating an eyesore for the burgeoning city,” she said.
“In 1848 Governor Charles La Trobe responded to public demand and the site, then known as Fitzroy Square, was reserved for parkland,” Ms Pulford said.
Earth Resources’ 25-page booklet can be accessed at this PS News link.
