Railway Pier, 1861 VPRS 12800/P1, item H1248

With the discovery of gold in the 1850s, Victoria’s population exploded. Thousands of hopefuls came pouring into Melbourne. The previous system of ferrying people and luggage upriver from ships anchored in Hobsons Bay, or dropping them on the beach to travel overland to Melbourne, was now completely inadequate.
The Melbourne and Hobsons Bay Railway Company conceived of a plan to link Melbourne to the bay with a rail line and a deep-water pier in Hobsons Bay. Due to its proximity to Melbourne, the swampland of Sandridge (Port Melbourne) was chosen for the location of this new pier, which became known as Railway Pier. It opened in 1854.