Creator Robert Russell

Date 1838

Attributed to Robert Russell, Melbourne surveyor, 1836. The Yarra was navigable as far as The Falls, where a deep natural basin was available for ships to unload and turn, called the Turning Basin. Above The Falls, the freshwater began, vital to the early settlement’s survival.⁣⁣⁣⁣.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣.⁣⁣⁣⁣It is understood that the name ‘Yarra Yarra’ is aboriginal for ‘The Falls’, indeed, John Wedge, a settler in 1835 wrote: “On arriving in sight of the river, the two natives who were with me, pointing to the river, called out, ‘Yarra Yarra’, which at the time I imagined to be its name; but I afterwards learnt that the words were what they used to designate a waterfall”. ..The Falls were dynamited in 1883 to improve accommodation for ships.

Source: State Library of Victoria