Looking back

Docklands in 2003 was a transforming suburb - formerly a thriving port that had been dormant for a quarter century, it was on a trajectory to its next iteration.

Already almost a decade of thought and planning had gone into the vision for Docklands and, informed by the development of other disused ports around the globe, the new waterfront of Melbourne was unfolding.

The Arkley at NewQuay and 50 Lorimer St had opened in 2002 and, on the city side of Docklands the Grand Hotel had been occupied for a while.  But 2002/03 saw the opening of new buildings at Yarra’s Edge and NewQuay, and new restaurants and cafes beside them lured visitors to Docklands.

Docklands was taking shape, but 2003 marked the emergence of the new Docklands community. On a wintry February 3 night, the first Dockfest was staged, featuring a kayak/running event called the Corporate Challenge, open air food and beverages, and energetic samba music and dance on Central Pier.

Community committees formed, meeting in apartments and the Docklands Authority offices to map out ideas and activities to bring people together.

Those ideas included the formation of the Docklands Community Association, set up to create opportunity for residents to connect, share interests, unite to respond to issues and, most importantly, to plan social activities that would draw residents together.

Then there was “Carols by the Cow”. Imagine this – a community choir meets at the Hub, rehearsing for weeks, running through a program of traditional Christmas tunes.  

The Salvation Army, keen to be visible and to support this new community, supplies musical support. The iconic Cow Up a Tree is proposed as the setting, so choir member and local resident

Vince Muscatello ferries hay bales, one at a time, in the passenger seat of a BMW sports car to build a nativity setting beside the cow.  

On a balmy pre-Christmas evening, against the backdrop of the sun setting before the Bolte Bridge, the choir performs to an audience of about 90 Docklanders who have spread out seats and picnics around the cow.

Having practised for weeks, choir members have committed not only to a performance but to a vision, an idea that Docklands residents can do things together and become a community.

This performance is a pivotal event and captures a moment in the emergence of a new regenerated suburb, a thing not seen in inner Melbourne for a century.

This is 2003, the year that also saw the birth of the Docklands News and, 10 years on we recognise these milestones in the development of Melbourne.