Historical information

Blind Creek was located between the Abbotsford Convent and what is now the Collins Bridge in Studley Park. In an 1858 map of East Collingwood by Clement Hodgkinson, in the State Library of Victoria, one can see how the creek was originally a significant landmark in Collingwood; remaining vacant land until a barrel drain enclosed it. The area was later filled in, surveyed and developed. The position where Blind Creek entered the Yarra was in the immediate vicinity of Hodgson’s Punt, which had linked Kew to the other side of the Yarra from 1839. The Punt was purchased by the Colonial Government in 1852 and was in use until the opening of the Studley Park Road (Johnston Street) Bridge in 1858 made its continued use redundant

Physical description

The point of view selected by the artist for the watercolour is from the banks of Blind Creek in East Collingwood, looking across the Yarra to the Kew side of the river.

Inscriptions & markings

Inscribed verso 'Creek and Old Watering stage, on the Yarra East Collingwood 1854 / Trees, stage, &c have long since disappeared / [Artist Signature] / FT 110 / Creek itself now being filled in 1903.