3/28/2014

Cut paw paw

Reading a lot about quarries in Sunshine North:
  • Unsurprisingly the council owned the land
  • For some time the area was the "Parish of Cut Paw Paw"
  • Footscray was called "Stoneopolis" by the "Melbourne Punch" circa 1850 
  • 1870s - quarries in "Braybrook Shire" (I believe this is the area now known as Sunshine North but I'm not yet certain of this) supplied stone for "road metal" and railway ballast (I think road metal is just large pieces of gravel)


  • "Sometimes a single small reserve located in a residential or industrial landscape is a hint that a small quarry once existed on the site"
  • Somewhat unrelated but the bluestone house between my house and the fish and chip shop had a basalt quarry behind it
  • Again unrelated but I like the name of this company: "Footscray Enterprise Dandelion Wine and Aerated Water Manufactory"


I think I would also like to contact one of the authors of this report (or maybe both)

Additionally I found a document entitled "Brimbank City Council Post-contact Cultural Heritage Study". It notes the quarries are historically significant in the context of local economic development, and confirms that they're the last quarries left undeveloped. I'm not sure what to make of their suggested timeline ("Date 1920c" - "Prior to 1933, the land was used for farming" - "The first quarries were opened … probably shortly after World War Two". Boral got involved at some point during the 80s and then moved operations to the urban fringe (beginning of the end). Public oppositions to the quarries and operations taking place is noted as having occurred in the 70s and 80s (being able to interview someone who was involved in this would be really neat). Apparently the local community was also concerned about the environmental impact of quarry remediation given the general trend to turn them into tips. I wonder what the site would be like today if local residents gave in to the idea of a tip back then - it'd probably be a giant flat park (or some sunken houses) by now



And also this: "…the land was previously used for quarrying, soil extraction and other industry and there is a need for a return on the investment in rehabilitating this degraded site."

Other misc. matters:
  • Saw musk lorikeet family in the (elm?) tree outside the Royal Melbourne hospital
  • Two masked lapwings standing in the middle of a puddle outside geometric bank HQ in Docklands
  • Unintentionally eavesdropping on conversation outside said HQ: "At the end of the day I feel as though I excelled in my skill set. I've been corporate for 9 years"
  • Kitten introduced two crickets into the house and promptly lost track of them both, then conjured a small beetle as a new friend and tapped it around for a little bit while the beetle made that odd sucking noise beetles make
  • Thought something was a white rabbit or cat but it was a plastic bag
  • Still having dreams (or nightmares) where I'm in close proximity to the spillway of a very large, deep dam and I can see the algae growing on the concrete. What does it mean


And some old Trove things I found related to the quarry (I would provide links or dates for the articles but it is well past midnight and I am lazy):




Good work on obviating that nuisance 




And other things


This was embedded in between ads and various articles. I think it's a joke

This is my favourite thing I have found so far


Lastly, things I should find and read/look at:

  1. Gary Vines, Quarry and Stone, Melbourne's Living Museum of the West, 1993: 27
  2. O. Ford and D. Parsons, Quarrying in Melbourne's West, Living Museum of the West, 1988. 
  3. Sands & McDougall Melbourne Directories, 1930 - 1968. Australian Survey Corps, Topographic Survey, Melbourne Sheet SJ55 South (map) 1933.

I was going to include a drawing but my sense of scale is off which is a sign I need to sleep

3/25/2014

More thesis and more drain pipes used as planters and other things

I think I have a working thesis question.

  • How do locale-specific characteristics mediate (can I say this in a better way?) outcomes for post-industrial land in Melbourne’s west? A case study of quarries in Brimbank (I don’t know whether this little addendum of sorts is ok - but I could work it into the question so it’s a single sentence)

Awkward wording but it encompasses everything I want to cover: history, culture (which could include informal social use, which I’m pretty interested in), socioeconomic demographics, patterns of land use and change (including the value of land itself), and the environmental/ecological aspect. Is that too much? I don’t know. I might narrow it down even more but we’ll see. So far my understanding is that outcomes are responsive to community action (Newport Lakes is one example, where local residents campaigned to have the quarry turned into a park rather than a tip) which indicates to me it might be tied into a whole bunch of other things (sociocultural understandings of open space, and whether local community members actually feel entitled enough to rally for a particular outcome). 


Aside from that, I walked to Southern Cross from work today. In the past I’ve walked along Lorimer St and across the strange cylinder bridge through Docklands but I saw a cyclist exit what I assumed to be an abandoned dock the other day and figured it might be a path. I was right (after spending at least 10 minutes trying to find evidence of this path on my phone, lest I wander into someone’s place of business by accident - the KEEP OUT signs at the entrance didn’t help). It ended up being an OK walk but I'm still irritated there isn't a footbridge connecting Port Melbourne and Footscray Rd so I could've just walked home.



I like these. One drainpipe contained the largest spring onion I’ve ever seen


Biggest cormorant club I’ve ever seen

For some reason a large group of people were playing bocce on this crummy sand thing despite there being a larger, grassier and more open field nearby? I guess sand is preferable or something

Second biggest cormorant club I’ve ever seen (Yes I saw a lot of big things)

DFO is weird

I hope they never get rid of this retaining wall

Sad little platform chunk

Not from today: nice Footscray hospital building

Again not from today: excellent topiary collection


3/19/2014

Further ruminations

This had a sketch of a house next to it but it's fine sans-house too, 
and also has nothing to do with this post
I didn’t end up doing the research I promised in the last blog entry (sleeping poorly most nights does not bode well for motivation), but I’ve since considered my thesis topic a lot more. I feel as though I should probably expand my scope a little bit - I’m not 100% certain on the direction I’d go with if I keep it specific to quarries - and maybe cover brownfield development in Melbourne’s west (specifically Brimbank?). This would still allow me to talk about quarries, but also the social, environmental and urban processes involved to a greater extent. This issue lies at the intersection of a few urban processes - decline in heavy industry/move towards a tertiary economy, and population growth/urbanisation - which would be pretty intriguing in the context of the existing low SES demographic. 

I’m curious about how existing planning provisions and legislation etc. allow for re-use or remediation of the land (which was one of my questions concerning quarries), same goes for existing noxious land uses. I could maybe have two case studies, one being the Sunshine North quarries and the other being the Huntsman Chemicals site in Brooklyn, or possibly a site which was once a landfill but has now ceased to operate as one (Sunshine Energy Park). 

At least at the moment I'm sure of 3 things: the setting of my thesis (Sunshine/Brimbank), the fact that I will write about quarries, and that I'm curious about how these things affect the population. My thought process doesn't feel very clear at the moment.


3/17/2014

Thinking about a title and some other things

Quick drawing from earlier today


Refining a thesis title is difficult. 

  • Socially-conscious planning for post-industrial landscapes - basalt quarries in Melbourne's west? 
  • Coordinating future land use through community-led remediation of Melbourne's basalt quarries?
  • Community-focused reuse of post-industrial space in Melbourne's (changing?) basalt plains?
  • Community-led remediation in post-industrial landscapes: a case study of Melbourne's basalt quarries?


None of these are by any means even close to a "draft" title. I feel like I'm just shuffling words around and trying to find something that sticks (not that whatever I come up with at this point will be the title I end up going with).

I think my general question is: 

  • What are the determinant factors in coordinating quarry redevelopment (or remediation) in a manner sensitive (or responsive) to local communities (or local community needs/values) ([possibly] undergoing change)?


That's not very elegant but I'm sure it can be refined.


Regardless of question and title, I've done some basic site research. The Sunshine North quarries are segmented into six parcels of land:

Dodgy map but you get the idea...
A. WINGED FOOT DRIVE SUNSHINE NORTH 3020

Planning Zone:
RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE (R1Z)

SCHEDULE TO THE RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE
Planning Overlay:
DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY (DPO)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 3 (DPO3)
Areas of 
Aboriginal 
Cultural 
Heritage 
Sensitivity:
This property is within, or affected by, 
one or more areas of cultural heritage sensitivity

A1. 265 DUKE STREET SUNSHINE NORTH 3020 

Planning Zone:
COMMERCIAL 1 ZONE (B1Z)

SCHEDULE TO THE COMMERCIAL 1 ZONE
Planning Overlay:
DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY (DPO)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 3 (DPO3)
Areas of 
Aboriginal 
Cultural 
Heritage 
Sensitivity:
This property is within, or affected by, 
one or more areas of cultural heritage sensitivity


A2. MCGRATH PLACE SUNSHINE NORTH 3020

Planning Zone:
RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE (R1Z)

SCHEDULE TO THE RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE
Planning Overlay:
DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY (DPO)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 3 (DPO3)

A3. 60 ST ANDREWS DRIVE SUNSHINE NORTH 3020

Planning Zone:
RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE (R1Z)

SCHEDULE TO THE RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE
Planning Overlay:
DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY (DPO)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 3 (DPO3)

B. SUNNYBANK RISE SUNSHINE NORTH 3020

Planning Zone:
RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE (R1Z)

SCHEDULE TO THE RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE
Planning Overlays:
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY (DDO)

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 1 (DDO1)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY (DPO)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 3 (DPO3)

SPECIAL BUILDING OVERLAY (SBO)

SPECIAL BUILDING OVERLAY SCHEDULE (SBO)
Areas of 
Aboriginal 
Cultural 
Heritage 
Sensitivity:
This property is within, or affected by, 
one or more areas of cultural heritage sensitivity


C. 14A HALONG DRIVE SUNSHINE NORTH 3020

Planning Zone:
RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE (R1Z)

SCHEDULE TO THE RESIDENTIAL 1 ZONE
Planning Overlays:
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY (DDO)

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 1 (DDO1)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY (DPO)

DEVELOPMENT PLAN OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 3 (DPO3)

ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OVERLAY (ESO)

ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 5 (ESO5)

LAND SUBJECT TO INUNDATION OVERLAY (LSIO)

LAND SUBJECT TO INUNDATION OVERLAY SCHEDULE (LSIO)

MELBOURNE AIRPORT ENVIRONS OVERLAY (MAEO)

MELBOURNE AIRPORT ENVIRONS OVERLAY - SCHEDULE 2 (MAEO2)
Areas of 
Aboriginal 
Cultural 
Heritage 
Sensitivity:
This property is within, or affected by, 
one or more areas of cultural heritage sensitivity


There's another quarry (or an attempt at one) located a little north of the ones mentioned above. I'm thinking about whether it should be included (or if it even counts as a quarry - I'd be inclined to call it an exploration). 

I'm going to look into the site history (ownership, previous uses, cultural value etc.) tomorrow. I came across some small bits of information while researching Solomon Heights so it shouldn't be too difficult (hopefully).

I've read through the abstracts of quite a few papers tonight. A 2013 paper by Luís Loures seems to cover the basic ideas I want to explore, although he frames it more as a conflict between urban growth and a lack of open space, with quarry remediation capable of alleviating the pressures of both forces (I like this idea). My initial curiosity was more focused on the specific factors that mediate quarry re-use itself - I came across Lain Walter's blog earlier and the extent of his development plan for the Sunshine North site is quite significant; would an in-depth investigation of this (as in, why the quarries are still undeveloped) appropriate for a thesis? I'm not sure.

(Sourced from Lain Walter's blog)

(Sourced from Lain Walter's blog)

You can see Walter's proposed streets on Google Maps

My small collection of relevant literature so far, and a few points on each:
  • Loures, L 2013, Planning and Design of Post-industrial Landscapes: Defining Redevelopment Principles. Spaces & Flows: An International Journal of Urban & Extra Urban Studies, vol. 3 no. 4, pp. 45-57.
  • Leney, AD 2008, A systems approach to assess the redevelopment options for urban brownfield sites. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
    • Explores "factors relating to the brownfield site and the surrounding urban area"
    • Leney developed a tool to assess the redevelopment capacity in light of "social, economic and environmental aspects"
  • Darwish TM, Stehouwer R, Khater, C, Jomaa, I, Miller, D, Sloan, J, Shaban & A, Hamze M 2010, Rehabilitation of Deserted Quarires in Lebanon to Initial Land Cover or Alternative Land Uses, Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation and Remediation, pp. 333-345.
    • Focuses on revegetation and water harvesting
    • Case studies concern Lebanon but cites other papers on the negative impact of disused quarries, which could be useful (Mouflis et al. 2008)
  • Uberman, R & Ostręga, A 2012, Reclamation and revitalisation of lands after mining activities : Polish achievements and problems, AGH Journal of Mining and Geoengineering, vol. 36, no. 2.
    • Again, foreign case studies (I didn't read this out of sheer patriotism, by the way) 
    • Outlines "mode[s] of reclamation" and common post-quarrying uses
    • A neat little diagram was provided for "incompatible uses" (p. 290).
  • Parker, RJ, Edmond, RM & Hince, KJ 1989, End-use development of Northcote tip, Fifth National Local Government Engineering Conference 1989; Preprints of Papers, Barton, A.C.T., Institution of Engineers, Australia, pp. 56-61.
    • Local precedent (well, more local than international ones...)
    • Could be somewhat irrelevant but still discusses planning processes involved in site redevelopment
  • Cowles, S & Holmes, R 2013, "For Every Pile there is a Pit"
    • List of references at the end, something to investigate later.
  • Novák, J & Konvičkab, M 2006, Proximity of valuable habitats affects succession patterns in abandoned quarries, Ecological Engineering, vol. 26, no. 2, 1 February, pp. 113–122.
    • Specifically addresses basalt quarries, which is nice
    • Vegetation focus: "probability of development of valuable habitats within the quarries decreased with distance to the closest grassland sites, and increased with their area" (interesting! I wonder if the same can be said for Sunshine North)
  • Howland, M 2007, Employment Effects of Brownfield Redevelopment: What Do We Know from the Literature?, Journal of Planning Literature, vol. 22 no. 2, pp. 91-107.
    • Concerns relationship between quarry remediation and SES ("brownfield sites are located in weak land markets", "many of the most seriously contaminated sites are located in the most distressed neighborhoods") 
    • That being said, the emphasis is on redevelopment which catalyses the creation of more job opportunities in an American context
  • McCarthy, L 2009, Off the Mark? Efficiency in Targeting the Most Marketable Sites Rather Than Equity in Public Assistance for Brownfield Redevelopment, Economic Development Quarterly, vol. 23 no. 3, pp. 211-228.
    • Seeks to outline the effect of brownfield redevelopment policies in low SES context
    • Economic incentives for redevelopment result in lower levels of redevelopment in low SES populations?
    • Potential benefits discussed and the need for social benefits to be considered
  • Gasidáo, K, Stankiewicz, B & Sąsiadek, Z 2012, Concept of redevelopment : The inundations in the Szotkówka river valley in Mszana and Jastrzębie-Zdrój local communities, AGH Journal of Mining and Geoengineering, vol. 36, no. 1.
    • Summary of projects undertaken to remediate quarry sites 
    • Objectives of redevelopment to include landscape, commercial, and community value
  • Wang, H, Shen, Q, Tang, B & Skitmore, M 2013, An integrated approach to supporting land-use decisions in site redevelopment for urban renewal in Hong Kong, Habitat International, vol. 38, pp. 70–80. 
    • Need for quarry redevelopment to be compatible with existing land uses
    • Assessing suitability for types of future site uses
  • Chang, J, Zhang, H, Ji, M & Chen, X 2009, Case study on the redevelopment of industrial wasteland in resource-exhausted mining area, Procedia Earth and Planetary Science, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1140–1146.
    • Discusses remediation and approaches to retain industrial heritage aspects, which is interesting
  • Crockett, R 2007, The Quarry: A Planning and Development History of the Northeast Minneapolis Retail Center, report, Windom Park Citizens in Action.
    • I like the brief overview of the site, but I don't know if this is something I need to include in the thesis or not (maybe?)
    • The above point would allow for some context to be established which may be relevant later on
  • Loures, L, Burley, J & Panagopoulos, T 2011, Postindustrial Landscape Redevelopment: addressing the past, envisioning the future, International Journal of Energy and Environment, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 714-724.
    • Has more of a landscape architecture focus
    • I like the phrase "postindustrial land transformation"
    • Mentions some good case studies
  • Sandberg LA 2013, Environmental gentrification in a post-industrial landscape: the case of the Limhamn quarry, Malmö, Sweden, Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability.
    • "Environmental gentrification" is another neat phrase but is it relevant to Sunshine North? I'd like to think so
    • Mentions integration of site history, informal users and new "immigrants" (very specific) will culminate in the quarry becoming a meeting place for "others" and a "force against environmental gentrification"
  • Pietrzyk-Sokulska, E 20212, Geological environment as an important element of the reclamation and revitalization of the quarries, AGH Journal of Mining and Geoengineering, vol. 36, no. 1.
    • Defines reclamation and revitalisation: I think I should similarly define or at least briefly explore the differences between redevelopment, re-use, remediation, etc.
    • I didn't realise until I got halfway through this, but they refer to Skalka Geologów which is where my grandfather and uncle were both in labour camps during WWII and communist rule respectively. I went there in 2012. One part of it has a tiny door secured in the limestone which provides access to a cave network beneath Kielce
By no means is this research at all intended to support the thesis itself. In fact, I'd be inclined to say all of the above has been undertaken to help me formulate a clear vision for what I'm going to write - in other words, get a better understanding of my topic/thesis title/other research conducted. Without making too much of an assumption, I feel as though my thesis would fill some kind of gap given the heavy emphasis on quarry remediation in Europe and the US. I hope that doesn't make me sound too self-important.

World textures

I found some satellite images I collected a while back. I think I intended on starting a blog specifically for posting these things, but I never got around to it.



I think this one is Sanctuary Lakes, Point Cook, adjacent to the Cheetham salt works.











3/16/2014

Quarries

Visited a few quarries today (in their various forms). Shortly after we arrived at our first stop, I spotted a beaten old ute struggling to drive up the hillside of Solomon Heights - an unusual sign of human life in the area. I don't know if our presence caused them to drive away. 

We didn't stay for long on account of the weather, and as soon as we got back to the car, a clean silver 4WD ute came down the hill and drove over the footpath. The back tray held two dogs - a staffy, and an egg-headed bull terrier - chained to the rollcage. The driver jumped out, tested a fence separating the River Valley development from the quarry, and pushed it (probably to ascertain whether he could drive over it) reasonably close to the ground. He then hopped back into his car and reversed the whole way back up the hill. By this point, I also began to drive back up the hill and spotted him idling on an empty block of land. He then drove aggressively back down the hill, the car - dogs and all - violently lurching from side to side. I didn't see him after that.


I wonder who turned these concrete drainpipes into planters

I also wonder whether these drainpipes are related to the planter-pipes

I can't tell if the rusty cars were burnt or submerged (or both). 

I'm no geologist but the rock formation is nice. Reminds me of Organ Pipes park

Quarry beach

Soccer stadium on the hill

The above quarry links to this one. I think they filled it a few years ago.
You can see some revegetation on the quarry face closest to the street.

Not a quarry but I like this path (which will probably have houses on both sides one day)

West of Duke St. This quarry was earmarked for a shopping centre roughly ten years ago. As you can see, much progress has been made. 

If only I could live next to a giant hole in the ground

I don't think this quarry attracts as many hooligans. Seems a lot more quiet/clean

Substation box propped up with wood, very safe looking

Dead-end street I parked on, featuring giant tyre

Newport Lakes was decidedly more wholesome. Some kind of junior bush dancing competition was on, which seemed to result in a large number of kids being forcibly led away from the event by their parents (overheard: "You want freedom? Well those friends of yours..."). 



Man-made indentations in the land can end up looking surprisingly natural



This bird has bread in its foot

Mean cloud in the same colourway as my car

Stopping for groceries on the way back constituted the final quarry visit, in the form of Altona Gate shopping centre. The row of spaces I usually park in had a curb extended halfway through each space, essentially turning each spot into a square. I don't know if this was intentional but people kept parking there anyway, two squares to a car (and then I did it and by the time I got back from Coles everyone else had left, rendering me the only person to park like that which probably made a lot of people think I don't know how to park a car).

I'll actually park my car inside the "quarry" next time.


This looks so inviting

It actually goes another 2 levels below this