Dight 's Falls - Yarra Bend Park

Pix taken on April 8, 2012

The Falls and new weir

Dights Falls is one of only two easy crossing places of the lower reaches of the Yarra River, aboud 3 km from the central CBD.

It was a favoured camping ground of the Yallock bullock clan of the Woi wurrung. It was also a meeting place for many clans where they would trade together, settle disputes and exchange brides.

The Boatshed

On a hill above the falls is an historic marker commemorating the "first white men to discover the river Yarra reaching Yarra Falls on 8th February, 1803.

Also to make the first crossing near here with the cattle by the first overlanders John Gardner, Joseph Hawdon and John Hepburn in December 1836".

Falls Track

Dights Falls located downstream of the junction of the Yarra River with Merri Creek, as the river narrows and is constricted between 800,000 year old volcanic, basaltic lava flow and a much older steep, silurian, sedimentary spur. The north side also contains abundant graptolite fossils in sedimentary sandstone.

Situated by the Yarra River in Collingwood is the industrial relic known locally as "Dight's Mill", one of Melbourne's oldest and most significant industrial sites.

From Kanes Bridge

In the early 1840s John Dight established Melbourne's first water-powered flour mill on the site. In 1888 'Yarra Falls Roller Mills' built a water-turbine powered mill, which was the largest and most sophisticated of the thirty two water powered mills built in Victoria before 1900.

The Waterways Alliance, on behalf of Melbourne Water, is completing major works to replace the ageing Dights Falls Weir and build a new fishway on the Yarra River in Abbotsford.

Kane's Bridge

The new weir will be similar in shape, location and height to the existing structure and continue an important role controlling water levels in the river.

A new fishway will allow fish to swim past the weir, benefiting 11 species of native migratory fish and unlocking vast reaches of the Yarra and its tributaries upstream.

My visit to the Falls was via the 5 km (return) walking track along the south bank of the River, through Yarra Bend Park, starting at the Boatshed at the main carpark off Studley Park Rd.

The track joins the Main Yarra Trail (Capital City Trail) opposite the Falls Viewing Platform.

See the complete set of Photos of my visit, and my YouTube video!