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Unintended Consequences #2 Great Scientific discoveries that destroyed the world-: Generating power from fossil fuels.
Coal (borrowed from Victorian Goldfields Railway) sand, Kurrajong seed pods. Plants endemic to Melbournes sandbelt Microseris lanceolata Myrnong Yam Daisy, Stylidium graminfolium Grass trigger plant, Distichlis distichophylla Australian salt grass, Austrostipa stipoides Prickly Spear Grass, Clematis microphylla Small-leafed Clematis, Hardenbergia violacea Native Sarparilla.
30+ million years- the time it took for the giant forest in Gippsland to decompose in swamps and form into brown coal.
84 years of coal fuelled gas production since1873
132 years-Forever heavy metal and groundwater contamination since 1873
29 years Gasworks Art Park since1986
South Melbourne Gas Plant was built in 1873 to generate power with coal shipped in by boat. The industrial use of the site contaminated the groundwater and soil with heavy metals, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from tar and oil wastes, General hydrocarbons from tar and oil wastes and storages; Various metals including arsenic from concentrations of coal minerals; Cyanide, sulphates and sulphides from gas purification and waste water treatment; Phenols from tar wastes; Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) including but not limited to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes; Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) associated with the substations and Solvents associated with maintenance.
Thank you to St Kilda Indigenous Nursery Cooperative and Victorian Goldfields Railway for generous sponsorship