“The Yarra River around today’s city centre was marked by lakes, billabong, swamps and lagoons, with abundant resources such as animals, plants, ducks, fish and vegetables,” writes historian Meyer Eidelson in Melbourne Dreaming. “A rocky basalt ledge or waterfall at the site of today’s Queens Bridge (city centre) was a central meeting place for the tribes as well as a ‘bridge’ to cross the river. Importantly, it separated upriver fresh water from downstream salt water. In 1835, this freshwater source was the impetus for the choice of place for a British colony destined to become the world’s fast-growing metropolis.”