The Australian way of life has been much influenced by the proximity of most of the population to the coast. While we often think of the sunny side of that existence in terms of the beach, certain shadier aspects of the Australian experience have been shaped at the docks.

'Australia's major ports have been the birthplace of the nation, home to the tight-knit communities that were pivotal in the birth of the union movement and the Australian Labor Party, as well as to "colourful identities" and empires of the criminal underworld,' writes Duncan McNab in Waterfront.