Historical information

Pipemakers Park is an 8‑hectare urban park on the Maribyrnong River, near Highpoint, established in 1987 on the site of the former Hume Pipes Company manufacturing complex.

The site has a long history of industrial use including, Raleigh’s Boiling‑Down Works (1848–1853), Melbourne Meat Preserving Company (1868–1886), Australian Frozen Meat Export Company (1880–1882) and Hume Pipe Company (1912–1978).

The Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works purchased the site in 1978 for conversion to parkland and the Pipemakers Park officially opened in 1987–1988.

One bluestone building was refurbished and leased to Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West.

The park is now managed by the City of Maribyrnong (since 2014)

Significance

Pipemakers Park is significant because it is one of the most complete surviving industrial heritage landscapes in Melbourne, a place where 130 years of Australian manufacturing, export innovation, and working‑class history are still physically visible in one location.

Its importance comes from industrial, archaeological, cultural, ecological, and community values.

Physical description

Digital scans of black and white negatives

Inscriptions & markings

Joe, Vince & Marion Fagone - Pipe Makers Park