under your feet

My housemate and I have been walking our dog up, down and across the area we affectionately know as ‘Footscray Hill’ for years now. It’s the piece of land behind Footscray City College between Farnsworth Avenue and the Edgewater Estate. It’s great for dogs – lots of things to investigate with the bonus occasional rabbit to chase. Good for the humans, too, as it forces us to walk up and down a hill at least once a day. I’ve long been aware that it’s the site of the old Footscray tip (long since buried). There’s no doubt masses of stuff moldering away deep under the earth – and it’s never worried me. But recently a local asked me if I knew that a piece of the Westgate Bridge which collapsed in late 1970 killing 35 men was buried there too. I don’t know if it’s true, but it makes sense as Footscray must have been the closest place where something so large and broken could be moved. Consequently my walks there since have been a lot more thoughtful. I remember the mum of a friend of mine telling me once that she knew a number of good men who died on the day the bridge collapsed. I guess the ground beneath our feet holds many stories of times past. I’m kind of glad I know about this one now.