Coode Island
Encyclopedia
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
and Maribyrnong River
Maribyrnong river
The Maribyrnong River rises about 50 km north of Melbourne, Victoria , near Mount Macedon. It flows generally southward and combines with the Yarra River to flow into Port Phillip....
s, 4km west of central Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Today the low-lying land is part of the Port of Melbourne
Port of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is Australia's busiest port for containerised and general cargo. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phillip, as well as several piers on the bay itself...
, site of Swanson and Appleton Docks and their associated container storage and rail yards, as well as a number of chemical storage facilities.
History
Originally extensive low-lying wetlands, the area became an island after a channel was dug to shorten the length of the Yarra River in 1886. A shipping canal was constructed to the south of the existing course of the river through Fishermans Bend, to allow access from the Port of MelbournePort of Melbourne
The Port of Melbourne is Australia's busiest port for containerised and general cargo. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at the head of Port Phillip, as well as several piers on the bay itself...
to Yarraville
Yarraville, Victoria
Yarraville is a suburb 6 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Yarraville had a population of 12,726....
. The boundaries were the canal on the south, the Maribyrnong River
Maribyrnong river
The Maribyrnong River rises about 50 km north of Melbourne, Victoria , near Mount Macedon. It flows generally southward and combines with the Yarra River to flow into Port Phillip....
on the west and the Yarra River on the north and east. Once formed, the island became an industrial area of 97 hectares. The island was named after Sir John Coode
John Coode (engineer)
Sir John Coode , English civil engineer, was born at Bodmin, Cornwall, the son of a solicitor. After considerable experience as an engineer in the west of England he came to London, and from 1844 to 1847 had a consulting practice in Westminster.In the latter year he was appointed resident engineer...
, an English harbour engineer who was engaged by the Melbourne Harbour Trust to select the optimum route for the canal as part of the Port of Melbourne. The former course of the Yarra River was slowly filled in over the years, along with the associated swamps, and by the mid 20th century, Coode Island was no longer a true island, although the name remained.
By 1909 the area was being used as an animal quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
station and after 1915 as a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
for victims of bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and other contagious diseases. By the 1920s the area was inhabited by hermits living in huts and abandoned ships. In 1927 the Larkin Aircraft Supply Company
Larkin Aircraft Supply Company
The Larkin Aircraft Supply Company was an Australian aircraft manufacturer based at Coode Island in Melbourne.-History:After returning from the First World War Herbert Joseph Larkin, a fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps, and his brother Reg Larkin formed an agency for Sopwith aircraft...
had set up operations on the island, including a factory and aerodrome
Aerodrome
An aerodrome, airdrome or airfield is a term for any location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve cargo, passengers or neither...
, which was used until World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1960 the area began being used for the storage of petrochemical
Petrochemical
Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....
s. In 1968 the Swanson Dock container terminal was constructed on the south side of the former island, which reduced the size of Coode Island.
On 21 August 1991 St Elmos Fire ignited one of the storage tanks, resulting in the Coode Island explosion. 8.5 million litres of chemicals burned, creating a toxic cloud over nearby residential suburbs, which was fortunately dispersed by high winds.
Proposals were made to move the facility to Point Lillias
Point Lillias
Point Lillias is a narrow peninsula jutting southwards from the northern coast of Corio Bay, near the city of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. It was formed by a southward trending tongue of lava from the volcanic flows of the Werribee Plains. The seaward end of the peninsula forms a low cliff...
near Geelong
Geelong, Victoria
Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia, south-west of the state capital; Melbourne. It is the second most populated city in Victoria and the fifth most populated non-capital city in Australia...
, but environmental
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and Aboriginal
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
heritage concerns thwarted the plans. In 2000 the Bracks Government
Steve Bracks
Stephen Philip Bracks AC is a former Australian politician and the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Australian Labor Party, and was party leader and Premier from 1999 to 2007....
announced that Coode Island would be the site of Victoria's major petrochemical storage facility, with six companies leasing the facility from the Melbourne Port Authority
Port of Melbourne Corporation
The Port of Melbourne Corporation is a statutory body established by the Victorian Government. The Corporation commenced operations on 1 July 2003, when it took over the management of the Port of Melbourne from Melbourne Port Corporation...
.