Railway Archaeology: Ravenhall Explosives Siding

The area today (via Google Maps)

The Ravenhall Explosives Siding was built by the Commonwealth Government in 1943 to store munitions for World War II. It was decommissioned almost immediately after the war, in 1946, so in some ways it had a very short life - but as is often the case, its impact can still be seen to this day. 

In the 1940s the Deer Park area was considered pretty remote, and its association with explosives goes back much further than this siding (further even than its association with deer). Melbourne's first explosives factory was founded here in 1874, in response to the gold rush, and it's still in use today; initially owned by Jones, Scott and Co and for many years owned by ICI, today it's owned by Orica. The explosives factory had a siding branching off from Ardeer station from 1903-1990, and another siding branching off east from Deer Park station from 1928-1955. 

Railmotors at Ravenhall in 1969 (used with permission, © Les Brown) 

Despite the site having been formally decommissioned in 1946, the Ravenhall Explosives Siding - which branched off the mainline just west of Deer Park station - still existed for decades after. The Australian Railway Historical Society ran an excursion to various industrial sidings in July 1969, including this one - though it seems they were only able to get as far as the Robinsons Rd level crossing, and weren't allowed to enter the yard proper. 

The tracks and shed structure in 1969 (used with permission, © Les Brown)

In 1976, the section of track between Sunshine and Deer Park West was duplicated. The area was still pretty remote at the time, but it was technically within the urban area; anecdotally, the state government of the day wanted more of the Ballarat line duplicated because it was the main freight line to Adelaide, but the Commonwealth were only funding "urban" rail at the time, so they came up with this project to fit the criteria. Bizarrely, despite the siding having essentially been out of use for three decades at the time - ten times longer than it was ever in use - they seem to have retained the connection when doing the duplication works, only for the siding to finally be abolished two years later in 1978. 

An overhead shot from 1989 shows the development north of the Ballarat line well underway, but the siding curves south into land that is still very empty. The long, well set-back house at 170 Robinsons Rd - which is still there today, and sticks out like a sore thumb among the 2010s development around it - is clearly visible in this shot, as is the line of the railway - clearly still very much intact at that point. 

Aerial photo of the siding in 1989 (via VicRoads)

Despite the railway being very much inactive for decades, the site apparently still saw some explosives-related usage till the early 1990s, both by the Maribyrnong Explosives Factory and volunteers from the Australian Space Research Institute, testing various bits of rocketry. (Incidentally, I tried to find out more about ASRI's early tests when researching this post and came up empty - if anyone reading this was part of ASRI at the time I'd love to hear your stories). 

The tracks were still in place as late as 1990 (via Weston Langford)

In 1994 the Victorian government bought the land from the Commonwealth, and set about building several of their favourite things - prisons and freeways. The Dame Phyllis Frost Centre (then Metropolitan Women's Correctional Centre) opened in 1996; the Metropolitan Remand Centre was built from around 2002-06; and the Deer Park Bypass sliced right through the site in 2004-09. The Ravenhall Correctional Centre came along in 2015-17, after I'd left. 

Some buildings were still standing as late as 2010 (via Google Street View)

I moved to Deer Park in 2012, into a house on Meakin Way. From memory, at that point there was still a bit of construction going on, with a few stragglers whose houses remained unfinished, but most of the estate you see today had been developed - certainly there wasn't any direct evidence of the siding by the time I got there. Stepping back through the Google Street View imagery of Robinsons Rd shows a few buildings still standing on the Explosives site till as late as January 2010, but I don't remember them and they're not in the imagery from February 2014. 

Crudely stitched-together screengrabs from 2014. I can only apologise. (via Google Maps)

Despite the situation on the ground, the Google Maps imagery was several years out of date at the time, so when I jumped online for a look, the old railway alignment was immediately apparent. Loxwood Court, Parkfield Court and Longfield Way all shadow the old railway (the houses, not the roadway, were built over the alignment), and the parklet on Edmondshaw Drive clearly shows where the line curved off even to this day. Over on the explosives site itself, the satellite imagery clearly shows an old culvert where the railway used to run, right at the end of the tree line. 

This culvert is probably the most substantial bit of railway infrastructure still extant (via Google Maps)

Not long before I moved back to Ballarat, I rode my bike along the Western Highway Path to see what I could see, but there really wasn't a lot left at that stage. Still, the legacy of this short-lived and under-utilised siding will live on forever in the streetscape of that housing development, and it's always nice to know what came before. 

The tree-lined road alignment from Robinsons Rd; tracks would've been to the left

I acknowledge the invaluable resources at vrhistory.com in preparing this post. Any errors are mine.