Thanks to an email discussion with Peter Weaver (Altona Laverton Historical Society), I realised I already had some key information to help in my quest to work out what’s what at the site of the racecourse.
Key is the 1945 high quality aerial survey found at: http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/maps/historical/1945melb/l_sheets/848b3d.jpg
By overlaying a current Google Earth image, I was able to get the two to line up. I had to shrink and move one a bit, but it seems to work. Here’s the 2 layers/images – after alignment – and in one picture (click to expand):
The Eastern End Bridge Location?
One thing that seems obvious is that the old bridge (just left of the CREEK text) was at the end of that road/track that started curved and straightened up to run almost due south, meeting the bridge (also running north-south). It seems to me this (today) is the western end of what is now Techno Park Drive.
Here’s that section of the 2 images as I have them in Photoshop Elements, with the modern one made almost transparent. You can see the old bridge almost perfectly lining up with today’s Techno Park Drive. I’m happy to put any minor errors down to misalignment by me of the two images. Other people are encouraged to continue/improve this work too.
The Eastern Bridge, the “Birdcage” and the current lone Palm Tree of 2014
I have read that the current lone Palm Tree is (was?) in the “Birdcage” area of the racecourse [1]. I had earlier speculated, on this blog, that the bridge ‘pointed’ at the “birdcage”[2]. I’m even more confident this is more likely now
Next Steps
The ruins per se.
References
[1] http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/?nosession=1#detail_places;22243
[2] https://sidwell.id.au/2013/08/30/williamstown-racecourseruins-speculation/