Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant (WTP) has been officially recognised for its historical significance after being added to the Victorian Heritage Register.
Originally known as the Metropolitan Sewerage Farm, the WTP was established in Werribee during the early 1890s following a Royal Commission into the sanitary state of Melbourne.
Nowadays, the WTP treats more than half of Melbourne’s sewage and is also home to a world-renowned wetlands on 10,500 hectares of land.
The WTP will celebrate its 125th anniversary of servicing Melbourne in 2022.
Making the upcoming occasion even more special, the Heritage Council of Victoria last week endorsed a recommendation to include the WTP on the state’s heritage register.
The WTP site is also home to the remaining buildings of the former town of Cocoroc, which was established in 1894 by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works to house employees and families working on the sewage farm.
The Cocoroc buildings have been listed on the heritage register, in addition to the rest of the WTP precinct.
Melbourne Water’s WTP manager Alanna Wright said the site’s inclusion on the heritage register paid homage to the vital role it has played in Melbourne’s ongoing development.
“For more than 80 years Cocoroc was a thriving community with over 100 houses for workers and their families,” Ms Wright said.
“This recognition of inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register is a fitting tribute to the multiple generations who lived and worked on the farm and have left their legacy on the life and liveability of Melbourne.”
Heritage Victoria executive director Steven Avery said many Victorians were unaware of the former township of Cocoroc and the importance of the former Metropolitan Farm, as part of the Melbourne metropolitan sewerage system.
“Prior to the construction of the sewerage system, human waste in metropolitan Melbourne was emptied into the streets, creeks and rivers,” he said.
“The Former Metropolitan Farm was a major engineering achievement and led directly to dramatic improvements in sanitation and public health in Melbourne.”
Melbourne Water has recently completed a project to restore Cocoroc’s century-old farm hall, which will be used as a education and visitor centre.
