Carlo and the Warrnambool harbour

In 1910, Carlo drew up plans for harbour improvements at Warrnambool.  The local community had been agitating for these improvements for many years  - in fact historian, Charles Sayers* has called the story of the Warrnambool Harbour one of dying hopes, dwindled trade, frustrated ambitions and futile expenditure.

We will start with a short history of the harbour, taken from Mr Sayer's book By these we flourish: a history of Warrnambool (Heinemann, 1969)

The first jetty in Lady Bay was built in 1849, but years later it was still unfinished and ricketty and broke up in 1862. A second jetty was built around 1857, known as the tramways jetty, although it was not completed until 1874 - Mr Sayers also describes this jetty as ricketty. As early as 1864 some considered the new jetty dangerous for horses and unsafe for for pedestrians. It was called the tramways jetty as it was connected to a tramway for the transportation of goods. From the start it seems that the locals thought that the harbour could be improved by a breakwater, the opening of the Merri River mouth and an extension of the jetty.

The Tramways jetty at Warrnambool, c. 1900-1920.  Photographer: T.J Rowan

State Library of Victoria Image H81.85/16

A breakwater of 600 yards in length and to cost 110,00 pounds was approved by the Victorian Government  in 1874. Preliminary work commenced, the first allocation of money had been expended, then the money stopped, there was a roller coast change of governments in Victoria over the next few years - so by 1879 the breakwater was just a thousand of tons of concrete blocks [that] had been thrown into the bay to make a foundation at a cost of 20,000 pounds.

In 1879, Sir John Coode, Melbourne Harbour Trust engineer drew new plans - a combined breakwater and wharf, 1,800 feet long, made of concrete blocks, to be constructed at a cost of 280,900 pounds. This massive amount of money was not favoured by the Government and his amended plan reduced the breakwater to 900 feet and the cost to 140,000 pounds and by removing the sheltering parapet the cost was reduced again to 134,000 pounds. In the end the contract price for the breakwater was just over 129,000 pounds and the contractor, Arthur Dobson, was to build a breakwater, 1033 feet long, which would allow for the loading of three vessels, each 200 feet long at one time in a depth of thirty to thirty five feet of water. It started around 1885 and was completed by 1890.

From the start there was unhappiness with the breakwater - it turned out to be only 900 feet long and the locals wanted in extended another 300 feet. But on February 4, 1890 the railway reached the town of Warnambool and the Government was not keen to spend more money on the port when there was an alternate form of transport. The other issue was that the breakwater caused siltation problems in the harbour and continuous dredging was needed to keep the harbour viable. By 1910, trade through the harbour had decreased to 4,000 tons, from a high of 40,000 tons.

Lady Bay, Warrnambool, 1907. Photographer: Joseph Jordan.

This photo was taken only three years before Carlo drew up his plans for harbour improvements.

State Library of Victoria Image H96.160/1405

This is where Carlo Catani comes in. In August 1910, Carlo proposed a plan for building a dock and for dredging work that increased the berthing capacity at the harbour. The dock was to be 3,000 feet long and 800 feet wide and allow ships up to 400 feet in length. The cost of the works was 180,000 pounds (or if timber was partly used instead if concrete, 130,000 pounds).

Instead of acting on Carlo's plans, in 1914, a contract was let to increase the breakwater 300 feet, an instalment of the Coode plan according to Mr Sayers.  This work was completed but not satisfactory, and there were allegations of corruption and that the specifications for the concrete blocks had not been met. A Royal Commission was appointed and it was found that the breakwater extension was built on sand, not rock and thus the extension collapsed and the 70,000 pounds that it had cost was mostly wasted.

Back to Carlo's plans - The Warrnambool Council were happy with Carlos' plans - there is a report in the the Colac Herald of July 8, 1912 where  a deputation from the Chamber of Commerce met with the Council to get much needed harbour improvements at the local port. The had this to say about the plans  They had a capital scheme drawn up by a competent Government Engineer (Mr Catani) and approved of by the Chief Engineer, (Mr Davidson) and yet according to Mr Murray's statement at the Farmers' Convention the Government was seeking for further advice in another state. This seemed ridiculous, and there was no reason why the scheme of Mr Catani should not be immediately gone on with.  The meeting ended with this motion That Mr Murray [John Murray, M.L.A] be urged to have £30,000 placed on this year's estimates, to commence, as soon as possible the harbor improvement scheme as drawn up by Cr Catani. See the full article, here.

The Victorian Government did not commit to Carlo's plans, then the First World War intervened and the work on the harbour was suspended and as Mr Sayers said, it remained that way. Even as late as 1944 the Warrnambool Shire still hoped to revive Carlo's plans as they urged that dredging and the building of a dock along the lines of the Catani plan of 1910 be commenced.  Nothing came of the effort, wrote Mr Sayers, so Carlo's plans for the Warrnambool harbour were never acted on. Mr Sayers says the Warrnambool harbour is now just a playground. 

The Breakwater, Warrnambool. (Rose Stereograph Co)

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/1720

According to Charles Sayers, commercial traffic in the port ended in March 1942 due to the depth of water, which in 1944 was reported to be just over seven feet at the harbour entrance, due to siltation. So this dates this photo to some time pre-1942.

* Charles Edward Sayers, known as C.E. Sayers, was born in Bendigo in 1901 and was a journalist with The Age, a writer of novels and a writer of history. He died in 1979, you can read about him, here, in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.