By Hamish Heard
AN EXHIBITION paying homage to Williamstown’s vital link with early Victorian agriculture will be the first of many displays to draw visitors to the city’s new maritime history precinct.
The Paddock to Port exhibition will be launched at the former Port of Melbourne Authority site, now known as Seaworks, next month.
It will include early photographs and displays tracing the agricultural process from production of wheat and wool in the Mallee and Wimmera to its export from Point Gellibrand.
The exhibition is a joint project involving the Williamstown Maritime Association, the Point Gellibrand Park Association, Hobsons Bay Council and Buloke Shire.
WMA president Patsy Toop said Williamstown’s local economy was heavily dependent on grain exports from the latter half of the 1800s right through to the 1940s.
“This exhibition will be an interpretive display which celebrates this important link with rural Victoria,” Ms Toop said.
“It comprises some fantastic photographs from the days when wheat was harvested by horse-drawn machinery and hauled to railheads by wooden wagons.”
Other Paddock to Port highlights will include an expo of vintage farm equipment, a modern grain harvester and an animal farm for children.
Point Gellibrand Park Association president Greg Powick said Point Gellibrand was once the gateway for early imports of sheep, cattle and horses into Victoria.
“It was later home to an extensive rail network and railway buildings developed to cater for agricultural exports from the Breakwater, Nelson and Railway piers,” Mr Powick said.
Williamstown North Ward councillor Peter Hemphill said the exhibition would give locals an opportunity to learn more about Williamstown’s history.
He said it was the first in a series of exhibitions with maritime themes planned for the Seaworks site.
The exhibition will be on display at Seaworks for about four months before travelling to the Buloke Shire.
Buloke mayor Reid Mather said Paddock to Port would give Hobsons Bay residents a better understanding of early farm life.
“The exhibition shows that Hobsons Bay and Buloke’s ties go much further back than most people realise.”
The Paddock to Port exhibition will be officially opened at Seaworks, 82 Nelson Place, Williamstown on Saturday 14 June.
