City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2Figure 28Preston and Northcote livestock markets. Nicol, Miller& Coy. Prop. Ltdc 1906[State Library of Victoria,AN:H89.187/5IN: a04738Timber clearing/harvestingThe woodlands of Darebin, being mainly River Red Gum, weren’t thought to have much valueas building timber. Initially most building timber was imported. What timber was harvestedfrom the Melbourne area was prepared by splitting rather than sawing for use as fencing rails.The wood of River Red Gum is impossible to split into useful lengths, and hard to cut. Theonly use of the timber was where the branches were straight and a suitable diameter, for fenceposts. So initially, settlers had to pay for clearing their land, or resort to clearing it themselves.Lemon notes that:The trees were giants, 'some of unconscionable girth', six or eight yards around. To grub out thestumps they had to dig to lay bare the roots, and then burn out the last grasp on the soil (Lemon,1983:11).Richard Howitt, who in the first land sales bought a block which spanned from the Yarra Rivernorth to Darebin Creek, described the impact of his own clearing operations:Then what curious and novel creatures, bandicoots, flying squirrels (Sugar and FeathertailGliders), opossums, bats, snakes, iguanas and lizards - we disturbed, bringing down with dustand thunder their old domiciles around their ears. Sometimes also we found nests of young birdsand of young wild cats; pretty black creatures, spotted with white. (Howitt, 1945:92)More was cleared for firewood sale (Lemon, 1983:12), especially as brickworks and boilingdown works were set up. Presumably these industries at least initially were wood-fired.QuarryingThe study area became pockmarked by large quarry holes dug for the raw materials of buildingbrick-making and pottery. Basalt quarries lined the creek banks, clay holes were spreadthroughout Northcote and southern Preston. Sand and gravel quarries were located inNorthcote and Reservoir East. Most of these holes, after they had served their purpose insupplying materials, were used for the disposal of waste, or filled for other uses.Many outcrops of Darebin’s underlying geology were removed by quarrying, not onlydestroying their geological value, but their habitat values also, as basalt outcrops providedhabitat for lizards, snakes, quolls, dunnarts, native rats etc. Quarrying did expose manyfascinating sections through Darebin’s geology, although these have almost all now been lostthrough filling.Pollution of waterwaysIn the 1860s and 70s, noxious trades like piggeries and boiling-down works were located inNorthcote, as noted above. Apart from generating noxious smells, their liquid and often solidwastes ended up in the waterways, along with run-off from legal and illegal nightsoil depots. Asthe problem became worse Northcote was known for its stink. The Merri Creek tributary54