The following account of this modern park is adapted from a Victorian Government website:
Oscar Meyer, chair of the West Gate Bridge Authority, is credited with the inspiration for the establishment of Westgate Park. He wanted to create “a beautiful park straddling the Yarra River to complement his sculptural bridge”. He developed this vision soon after the completion of the bridge in the late 1970s. The federal Government funded the development of Westgate Park to mark Victoria’s sesquicentenary in 1984-85.
The area under the bridge had seen a variety of uses, including sand extraction, an aerodrome and car-racing. Much earlier, the area was part of the lower Yarra wetlands, with extensive saltmarsh, swamps, vegetation and bird life. During the construction of the bridge, the area was the base for building works and was the site of a large works depot. In 1979, the Age described the land seen from the newly opened bridge as “scrofulous scenery indeed … dead water, swamp, sick factories, dead wood, haze, gasping barges, wretched refineries, wheezing chimneys, dead grass, institutional putrefaction”.
Following the completion of the bridge, the future Westgate Park site was cleaned up and a former sand mine was converted to a salt water lake.
Consultants Loder & Bayly and landscape architect Bruce Mackenzie, won a competition with an ambitious design relying on a constructed landscape of hills and access tracks which framed and created views of the West Gate Bridge as the central sculptural feature, and with fresh and saltwater lakes as focal points. Planned features included an island visitors’ centre, as well as “the planting of Australian flora, improvement of bird habitat and the incorporation of a narrow-gauge railway, a sound shell and sculptures”.
The then Victorian Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands carried out the initial work in forming the park, creating mounds between two lakes using building waste, with help from participants in a government works program for the unemployed. A modest realisation of the original design, with several features deferred or removed, was opened and dedicated to the people of Victoria on 7 November 1985.
The following year, Westgate Park became the responsibility of the MMBW Parks Division, but was largely neglected over the following decade. During this period, sculptural work (Earth Series, 1990) by Lyn Moore was added to the park. In 1996 Melbourne Parks and Waterways announced an extension of the park to meet the river. The intention was to transform it from a ‘derelict wasteland’. A new design plan was developed but was not fully realised.
The Friends of Westgate Park was formed in 1999 and this volunteer group became pivotal to the management, development, and expansion of the site. The Friends undertook the installation of infrastructure and extensive planting, with the objective of gradually converting the vegetation to what was typical of pre-settlement Melbourne.
Through the efforts of the Friends, extra land was acquired from 2003-2016. Parks Victoria is now responsible for Westgate Park. The Friends group continues to improve the park and acts as an advocate for its development. A large number of bird species now inhabit the park, including cormorants, black swans and pelicans. The area is again becoming a wetland haven.
Dr Geoff Edwards, Secretary of PaRC, writes:
Early in my time as an officer of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey, about 1975, a senior land administration officer took me on an inspection of part of the wasteland now known as Westgate Park. Noticing foul-smelling smoke rising out of the ground, I stepped closer to investigate, but beat a hasty retreat as the soles of my shoes became very, very hot. I was informed that the site was used as a sand quarry for building materials for early Melbourne. Later it was backfilled with garbage. At some time the rotting mass caught fire. The fire brigade regularly turned out to grass fires.
Although the Department had recently established a new Division of Crown Land Management to upgrade the standard of management of Crown lands and reserves, the remediation and development of Westgate was too ambitious for the nascent group with its shoestring budget to take on. The task required a body with the capacity of Melbourne Parks and Waterways.
"Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya kwanza ya gazeti la The Guardian, ""Oscar Meyer, mwenyekiti wa Mamlaka ya Daraja la Westgate, anasifiwa kwa msukumo wa kuanzishwa kwa Westgate Park.""" Alitaka kuunda "bustani nzuri iliyozunguka Mto Yarra ili kukamilisha daraja lake la sanamu". Alitengeneza maono haya muda mfupi baada ya kukamilika kwa daraja hilo mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1970. Serikali ya Uingereza ilitoa fedha za ujenzi wa Westgate Park kwa ajili ya maadhimisho ya miaka mia sita ya Victoria. Eneo lililokuwa chini ya daraja hilo lilikuwa na matumizi mbalimbali, kutia ndani uchimbaji wa mchanga, uwanja wa ndege, na mashindano ya magari. Hapo awali, eneo hilo lilikuwa sehemu ya maeneo ya chini ya Yarra yenye maji ya chumvi, mabwawa, mimea na ndege. Wakati wa ujenzi wa daraja, eneo hilo lilikuwa msingi wa kazi za ujenzi na lilikuwa eneo la ghala kubwa la kazi. "Mwaka 1979, gazeti la The Age lilifafanua eneo hilo lililokuwa likitazama kutoka kwenye daraja hilo jipya kuwa ""maeneo yenye uchafu, maji machafu, mabwawa, viwanda vilivyoharibika, mbao zilizokufa, ukungu, mashua zilizokuwa zikivuta pumzi, viwanda vilivyoharibika, chemchemi zilizokuwa zikivuta pumzi, nyasi zilizokuwa zimekufa, na uharibifu wa taasisi.""" Baada ya daraja hilo kukamilika, eneo la baadaye la Westgate Park lilisafishwa na mgodi wa zamani wa mchanga ukabadilishwa kuwa ziwa la maji ya chumvi. Mtaalamu wa ujenzi wa mazingira Bruce Mackenzie na kampuni ya Loder & Bailey walishinda mashindano ya ujenzi wa daraja la West Gate Bridge, na kuunda mandhari ya daraja la West Gate Bridge kama kipengele cha kati cha sanamu, na na ziwa la maji safi na laini kama vituo. Vipengele vilivyopangwa vilijumuisha kituo cha wageni wa kisiwa hicho, pamoja na "kupanda mimea ya Australia, kuboresha makazi ya ndege na kujumuisha reli ya narrow-gauge, ganda la sauti na sanamu". Idara ya Victoria ya Uhifadhi, Misitu na Ardhi ilifanya kazi ya awali katika kuunda mbuga hiyo, ikitengeneza vilima kati ya maziwa mawili kwa kutumia taka za ujenzi, kwa msaada wa washiriki wa mpango wa kazi za serikali kwa ajili ya wasio na kazi. Ujenzi wa kifahari wa jengo hilo, na sehemu zake kadhaa zilizocheleweshwa au kuondolewa, ulifunguliwa na kupewa watu wa Victoria mnamo Novemba 7, 1985. Westgate Park ilikuwa chini ya usimamizi wa MMBW Parks Division, lakini ilipuuzwa kwa miaka kumi iliyofuata. Katika kipindi hiki, kazi ya sanamu (Mfululizo wa Dunia, 1990) na Lyn Moore iliongezwa kwenye bustani. Mnamo 1996, Melbourne Parks and Waterways ilitangaza upanuzi wa Hifadhi ya Melbourne ili kukutana na mto. Kusudi lilikuwa kuibadilisha kutoka "nchi tupu iliyokuwa imeachwa". Mpango mpya wa kubuni ulitengenezwa lakini haukutimizwa kikamilifu. "Wafanyakazi wa ""Friends of Westgate Park"" walianza kazi yao mwaka 1999 na walianza kufanya kazi ya kujitolea katika eneo hilo." Marafiki walifanya ujenzi wa miundombinu na kupanda kwa wingi, kwa lengo la hatua kwa hatua kubadilisha mimea kuwa kile kilichokuwa cha kawaida cha Melbourne kabla ya makazi. Kwa sababu ya juhudi za marafiki, ardhi ya ziada ilipatikana kutoka 2003-2016. Victoria Parks sasa anasimamia Westgate Park. Kikundi cha Marafiki kinaendelea kuboresha bustani na hufanya kazi kama mtetezi wa maendeleo yake. Sasa kuna aina nyingi za ndege katika mbuga hiyo, kutia ndani koromora, mbweha weusi, na pelikani. Eneo hilo linakuwa tena mahali pazuri pa kuishi kwa ajili ya watu wenye mvua. "Dr. Geoff Edwards, Katibu wa PaRC, anaandika: ""Mwanzoni mwa muda wangu kama afisa wa Idara ya Crown Lands na Survey, karibu 1975, afisa mtendaji wa utawala wa ardhi alinipeleka kwenye ukaguzi wa sehemu ya ardhi iliyokuwa imeharibiwa ambayo sasa inajulikana kama Westgate Park." Nilipogundua moshi wenye harufu mbaya ukiinuka kutoka ardhini, nilikaribia ili kuchunguza, lakini nikarudi nyuma haraka wakati nyayo za viatu vyangu zilipokuwa moto sana. Nilijulishwa kwamba eneo hilo lilitumiwa kama mgodi wa mchanga kwa ajili ya vifaa vya ujenzi kwa ajili ya Melbourne ya mapema. Baadaye ilijaa takwimu za taka. Wakati fulani, moto ulianza kuwaka kwenye kile kilichokuwa kikichakaa. Kikosi cha wazima-moto mara kwa mara kilitokea kwa moto wa nyasi. Ingawa Wizara ya Kilimo ilikuwa imeanzisha hivi karibuni Idara mpya ya Usimamizi wa Ardhi ya Crown ili kuboresha kiwango cha usimamizi wa ardhi ya Crown na hifadhi, marekebisho na maendeleo ya Westgate yalikuwa ya kutamani sana kwa kundi la kuzaliwa na bajeti yake ndogo ya kuchukua. Kazi hiyo ilihitaji shirika lenye uwezo wa Melbourne Parks and Waterways.