Sunday History Photo / A.C.T

Submitted: Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 07:49
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Tharwa bridge was the first bridge across the Murrumbidgee River and is the oldest bridge still standing in the Australian Capital Territory, and the oldest of its type in Australia.
For its opening a public holiday was declared in the region, a parade was held in Tharwa and 1500 people watched Mrs Elizabeth McKeahnie open the bridge. The bridge is significant in its contribution to the landscape and its relationship with the river, the village of Tharwa and the hills beyond. The deck level of the bridge was based on the highest recorded flood level prior to building the bridge. A flood has not overtopped the bridge since construction. There is a mark on the concrete pier on the Western side of the river showing the flood level in 1991.
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The Tharwa Bridge and its site are historically and technically significant because of the Allan truss structure, having form and structural integrity which have survived virtually intact. It is the archetypal example of the application of the technology by Percy Allan to the construction of timber road bridges in New South Wales during a major development phase for bridge and road construction during the last decade of the nineteenth century.
Tharwa Bridge is highly valued by the local community as an integral part of the village of Tharwa. It continues to contribute in social, economic and aesthetic terms to the community. The bridge and its site have associative significance with the period of nineteenth century European settlement and development of the region.
The bridge was entered in the ACT Heritage Register in 1998, is listed by the National Trust of Australia (ACT) and was entered on the Register of the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission in 1983.
The bridge has also been identified by Engineers Australia as a Major Engineering Heritage item and is one of the most significant pieces of heritage in the Australian Capital Territory.
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Reply By: OzTroopy - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 10:30

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 10:30
Murrumbidgee has ... and had ... some excellent bridges over time.

Good one Doug T ...... had forgotten about that little spot.
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Reply By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 10:42

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 10:42
Anyone know when the timber supports were replaced with concrete columns?

Andrew
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Reply By: Member - Warrie (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 10:53

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 10:53
Hi Doug. Tharwa's along way from the NT but only 10 mins from suburban Canberra. For those heading to the Snowy you can continue past the bridge and drive through Namadgi NP and end up at Adaminaby. Or cut back to the Monaro Hwy on the Angle Crossing dirt road. We crossed the bridge last December and it is undergoing repairs. Lets hope it lasts another hundred years... W
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Reply By: Wilko - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 15:09

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 15:09
Thanks Doug for another fantastic Sunday read,

My Outlaws live in Gordon 5mins from Tharwa. Its interesting to see the amount of trees change over the last 100 years and from 1975 to today.

Cheers Wilko
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Follow Up By: Brian Purdue - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 16:18

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 16:18
Do you know that the oldest bridge in Australia still used daily is the brdge at Greenough?
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 16:28

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 16:28
What about the Richmond bridge in Tassie??

Isn't the bridge at Greenough concrete?

Andrew
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 16:30

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 16:30
Concrete not....LOL

I take it you are talking about Maley's Bridge.

Andew
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Follow Up By: Brian Purdue - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 19:00

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 19:00
The bridge at Greenough was originally stone but over the years some concrete has been added. I got my information from a bloke from Tasmania. I used to have a hardware store in Dongara and this bloke came in for fuel. He told me that he had flown from Tasmania, photographed the bridge, and was going straight back.
I therefor took his word for it that the Greenough bridge was the oldest as he claimed. He did not look stupid and he would have had to have been if he flew all the way over and back just to take a picture of a bridge if it were not so.
Regards
Brian
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Follow Up By: Member - Andrew (QLD) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 20:07

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 20:07
No problems Brian, just that i had always been told that Tassie had the oldest bridge. Found this bit about them:

http://register.heritage.wa.gov.au/comprehensivereport.html?place_seq=1166
- Maley's Bridge constructed 1864

http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/richmond/index.html
- Richmond Bridge constructed (completed) 1825

Andrew
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Follow Up By: On Patrol & TONI - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 21:02

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 21:02
Nice work again Doug well done.

As for old bridges on the mainland it would be hard to beat the Lennox bridge at Lapstone in the blue mountains.

Lennox Bridge

Opened in 1833 & closed to traffic in the 1950s and then reopened to traffic in 1982 following reconstruction useing & resetting the old stonework, maybe that disqualifies it as the oldest mainland bridge????? It will still do me for that title.

It's still in the original place with a huge percentage of the original stone, not bad when you concider that it was the main route west from Sydney carrying motorised traffic as well as horse traffic for over 100 years & still carries motor traffic today.

It's sister bridge at Lansvale NSW, still to this day, carries south bound lanes of the Hume Highway at that location, I suspect it has had many renovations in that time however. Colin.
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Reply By: Member - Damien L (Cairns) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 17:21

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 17:21
Hi Doug, Once again great history lesson. Did you sleep in this mornig, your posts are usually a lot earllier than around 6.
Thanks again for your great history day post.
Damien
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (NT) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 17:30

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 17:30
Yeh.... I did sleep in a bit, been having some neck and back problems and nearly turned down the offer to go flying yesterday, I think I've pulled a muscle of something in the neck from trying to be a Tiger Woods except the balls are Cane Toads and the girls were flying machines, in the mornings it's like an electric shock in the neck, so off to the Chiropractor asap,

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Follow Up By: Member - Damien L (Cairns) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 21:07

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 21:07
Just keep up your fitness for the big event this year eh.
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (NT) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 21:12

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 21:12
What event would this be... I take it you mean the Witchcraft trip, yeah I don't know if it will be this year the way savings are going, must be eating it .

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Reply By: Richard W (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 23:44

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010 at 23:44
Good read Doug.
The bridge was closed for restoration work when we travelled through the area in mid Jan and we had to detour.
Link to closure notice
I assume its now been reopened.
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Reply By: Graham Watson - Monday, Feb 22, 2010 at 00:24

Monday, Feb 22, 2010 at 00:24
When we lived in Canberra we would regularly take the kids swimming in the Murrumbidgee under the bridge. When we first moved to Canberra in 1995 the river was wide enough and deep enough to float down along on boogie boards. When we left in 2005 the river seemed like it would have been only a couple of feet wide and only 6 to 12 inches deep near the bridge. A long way from the volumes of water shown by the flood marks on the south western side of the river

Graham
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Reply By: dingbat - Monday, Feb 22, 2010 at 08:02

Monday, Feb 22, 2010 at 08:02
Thanks Doug--drove over the bridge on Wed last, one way at moment still under repair/renovation, subject of heated discussion between locals and ACT government. River pretty high then as both Urriarra and Coppins Crossing closed due to height and flow of Murrumbidgee after previous weekends rain. Flowing water good to see, definitely not a good spot to swim or lilo at moment.

As for the tree cover I think it still looks much the same in 1926 and 1975 and probably 1893, bearing in mind that these photos are taken looking in different directions.
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