ON THE LOWER reaches of Victoria’s Yarra River is the Fishermans Bend industrial precinct. Since the mid-19th century, this site – just a stone’s throw from Melbourne’s CBD – has been strategically important for shipping, defence and industry. It initially supported “noxious trade” industries, including bone mills, slaughterhouses and glue factories. Their dross seeped into the Yarra and polluted surrounding swampland.
In the early
