Daily Photo – The Seafarers Bridge in Melbourne
This is one of the many bridges that span the Yarra River in Melbourne. I think it’s called the Seafarers Bridge. Now, while the rest of today’s post has nothing to do with the Seafarers Bridge, simply mentioning both the Yarra River and bridges enables me to share with you the fact that Melbourne once had a morgue built into a bridge.
In the 1850s, Melbourne had a rather unpleasant problem. The Yarra had a habit of giving up its dead, and someone had to deal with the bodies when they appeared. So, beneath what is now Federation Square, at the eastern end of Princes Bridge the city built a morgue into the riverbank. It contained a deadhouse, an inquest court and even a laboratory, all tucked away beneath the bridge. The planners apparently thought this was best kept out of sight and intended to hide the whole grisly business behind shrubs, presumably so pedestrians could cross the bridge without having to contemplate quite how much death was passing beneath their feet.
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