Williamstown Dockyard

The Colony of Victoria decided to construct a large slipway at Williamstown to provide ship repair facilities in 1856 and the Government Patent Slip was opened in 1858.

The dock was designed by William Wardell for the Public Works Department (Victoria), and it was the largest structure of its type in the southern hemisphere.

In the 1870s, the railway department contracted for the construction of a new pier to meet increased demand imposed by wool and later grain handling.

Reid St Pier was constructed for the Melbourne Harbour Trust for exclusive use with its own floating plant in September 1891.

In 1987 it passed into private control of Tenix Defence and which was subsequently acquired by BAE Systems Australia.

A 1878 woodcut image of the Government Graving Dock, which was also called Alfred Graving Dock, at Williamstown Dockyard