Clifton Hill Shot Tower

Clifton Hill Shot Tower is an 80-metre (263 ft) tall[1] shot tower on Clifton Hill in Melbourne, Australia. Clifton Hill Shot Tower was built beside Alexandra Parade (Then called Reilly Street) with its associated factory for Richard Hodgson in 1882 to manufacture lead shot and resembles a chimney.[2][3][4] The tower was operated by the Coops family, who also managed Coops Shot Tower, now located within the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre.

Clifton Hill Shot Tower
General information
Address94 Alexandra Parade, Clifton Hill
Coordinates37°47′39″S 144°59′26″E
Completed1882
Height80.16 metres (263.0 ft)

The shot tower is easily visible from both Alexandra Parade and the northern end of Hoddle Street. The shot tower is on the Victorian Heritage Register.[5][6] Urban legend states that infamous Melbourne biker and gangster, 'Chopper' Read buried a body at the bottom of the Shot Tower, although this remains unproven.

"The significance of the Clifton Hill Shot Tower was confirmed by two of the world’s leading authorities on industrial heritage. One is Sir Neil Cossons, the founder of the Iron Bridge Museum and former chairman of English Heritage. Cossons is widely regarded as Britain’s leading authority on industrial heritage and has advised on matters of conservation and management widely in the UK and overseas. This has included the nomination of Japanese industrial heritage sites that represent the emergence of industrial Japan, 1850-1910, to the World Heritage Register in 2014. He inspected the Clifton Hill shot tower with me on 1 May 2010, whilst undertaking a tour of industrial sites of Melbourne, and it was the highlight of his day. He has studied shot towers in many countries, and in his opinion, the Clifton Hill shot tower has the most distinctive design for a shot tower, due to its scale, design and patterned brickwork." Nigel Lewis, Submission Regarding The East West Link}: Clifton Hill Shot Tower and Yarra Bend Park, Evidence to Panel on East West Link Impacts, April 11 2014[7]

References
  1. citation needed
  2. "General News". Weekly Times (833). Victoria, Australia. 22 August 1885. p. 6. Retrieved 26 December 2018 – via National Library of Australia., ...Mr, Richard Hodgson, a well-known citizen, died, Thursday. He was an earnest worker in the cause of religion, and one of the foremost laymen of the Methodist denomination. He was for many years one of the trustees and treasurer of Wesley Church, Lonsdale street, and was a class-leader and local preacher. He was a man highly respected by all, deeply loved by very many, and was one the church could ill afford to lose. He was widely known in commercial circles, and was proprietor of the shot tower, near the gasworks, where he was engaged in the manufacture of shot. Some time ago he was seriously ill, and seemed never to have thoroughly recovered from that attack. Recently his foreman became ill, and daring his absence from the business Mr. Hodgson was more busily engaged, and to exposure to the cold is attributed the second illness, which ended fatally. Thursday morning, at his residence, Latrobe street, West Melbourne. He was attended by Dr. Cutts, of William street. He leaves a widow and grown-up family. One of his sons is an LL. B. of the Melbourne University, and one is studying medicine. The deceased gentleman, whose demise is deeply deplored, was more than sixty years of age...
  3. "Family Notices". The Herald (2964). Victoria, Australia. 21 August 1885. p. 2. Retrieved 26 December 2018 – via National Library of Australia., ...DEATH. HODGSON.— On the 20th instant, at his late residence, 143 Latrobe street west Richard Hodgson, aged 62...
  4. "MELBOURNE". Bendigo Advertiser. XXXII (9, 390). Victoria, Australia. 22 August 1885. p. 3. Retrieved 26 December 2018 – via National Library of Australia. ,...Mr Richard Hodgson, of Lonsdale-street West, whose death appears amongst the obituary notices to-day, was one of our oldest city merchants, and a prominent and important man in the infant days of our great city. Latterly he established a shot tower, which forms a very conspicuous landmark in northern Collingwood. Amongst the members of the Wesleyan Church, Mr Hodgson was held in high esteem. He was carried off by congestion of the lungs, and it is a singular circumstance that his late storeman died on Friday from the same complaint...
  5. "Shot Tower, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H0709, Heritage Overlay HO85". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria.
  6. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/75403/20180324-0000/collingwoodhs.org.au/resources/collingwood-history-plaques-project/the-shot-tower/index.html
  7. https://eastwestlinkblog.com/live-blog-public-hearings/11-april-day-28/


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