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When someone died in Melbourne in the 1800s their dead body was usually stored in a pub, where it was likely to be cool. Understandably, that had to change \u2013 and the Williamstown morgue was built.<\/p>\n
On a sunny summer day it\u2019s hard to imagine this quaint bluestone building in Williamstown once housed the corpses of hundreds of Melburnians and ill-fated travellers from the middle of the 1800s to the early part of last century.<\/p>\n
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Hobsons Bay Councillor Peter Hemphill in the Williamstown morgue, believed to be the first of its kind in Victoria. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Simon Schluter<\/cite><\/p>\n The Williamstown morgue was an answer to the city\u2019s lack of storage for its dead, and the growing problem of the stench and health risks from the then-common practice of keeping bodies in local pubs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a pretty rough place in those times,\u201d says Peter Hemphill, Williamstown resident and Hobsons Bay councillor.<\/p>\n \u201cUp until that time anyone who died around this area or at sea, all the inquests were held in the local pubs, because they were cool places.\u201d<\/p>\n The Age<\/em> at the time reported on bodies taken to the Williamstown morgue \u2013 like a woman in 1883, who died of typhoid aboard the steamer Sorata and was brought ashore in Williamstown. Her siblings travelling with her \u201cwere compelled to continue their voyage to Sydney\u201d, leaving her body in the morgue.<\/p>\n Another woman was visiting a friend at the old Australian Wharf on the north bank of the Yarra when she \u201cfell over the gangway and drowned\u201d.<\/p>\n At the nearby Newport Railway Workshops, the body of a worker \u201cbadly crushed\u201d in a timber accident was sent to the morgue.<\/p>\n Inside the morgue, there\u2019s not much to see, as it\u2019s simple in design and only a single storey. The corrugated iron roof was once slate and tiny windows where light seeps in from the outside, are modifications from decades ago. However, the building was nevertheless heritage-listed in 1998 for its significance to the state\u2019s colonial history.<\/p>\n The morgue fell into disrepair over several years.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Simon Schluter<\/cite><\/p>\n Over the years the morgue has suffered its own decline as ants slowly ate away at the mortar. Now it\u2019s being thrown a lifeline with a $150,000 restoration grant, with works to be undertaken by the University of Melbourne\u2019s Grimwade Conservation Services.<\/b><\/p>\n The Seaworks Foundation, a non-profit group responsible for the morgue, was awarded the money from the $10 million dollar WestGate Neighbourhood Fund, a state program to support communities in Melbourne\u2019s inner west during the construction of the West Gate Tunnel Project.<\/p>\n Hemphill, the foundation treasurer, says the nondescript building\u2019s macabre past is a significant part of Williamstown\u2019s history that shouldn\u2019t be lost.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the walls could talk I\u2019m sure there would be some fascinating stories of people\u2019s lives and their deaths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When the morgue closed its doors in 1925 the building\u2019s future was already in doubt with critics slamming its filthy state.<\/p>\n In 1921, acting coroner R.W. Jackson went to view a body at the morgue and found \u201cthe floor three parts flooded with water and the room in a very dirty condition\u201d.<\/p>\n Hemphill wants to transform the old morgue into a museum of mortuary services, a way to honour the history and lives of those who passed through it.<\/p>\n Currently, access to the morgue is by appointment or through historical tours.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be great to bring back the original intention of this building.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. <\/i><\/b>Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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