Station Pier

Opened in 1854, the pier is Melbourne's primary passenger terminal, servicing interstate ferries and cruise ships, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

[1] The 4.5 kilometre Port Melbourne line from the pier to Flinders Street station via the Sandridge Bridge was opened at the same time to facilitate the transport of passengers and goods, and was the first significant railway in Australia.

In 1861, the pier was extended to a length of 661 metres, in order to accommodate the ever-increasing traffic associated with the number of people settling in Victoria.

[1] In the early part of the 20th century, the original pier was unable to accommodate the new breed of larger and more powerful steamships.

As a result, the current pier was built between 1922 and 1930 and is the largest timber piled wharf structure in Australia.

The new pier was designed so that passengers landed at the terminals above, while goods traffic moved underneath, in what was quite forward thinking for the 1920s.

It was served by two trains per hour Monday to Friday, until their withdrawal in November 1930 as they were not financially rewarding to the Victorian Railways.