Victoria Bridge, From Queen Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 1886
By Remembering the Past Australia / August 16, 2020 / Australia / 0 Comments
Place:
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Date:
1886
Historical Information:
This image is part of the Colonial Office photographic collection held at The National Archives UK.
The construction of a bridge across the Brisbane River was first agreed to in 1861. The newly formed Legislative Assembly of Queensland forced the council to pay for the costs. £70,000 worth of borrowings was acquired from the Bank of Queensland. Work first began on the foundations for the first bridge across the Brisbane River on 22 August 1864. The bridge, known as the Brisbane Bridge, was a tolled, timber structure that opened in June 1865. It was a temporary structure that was to be replaced by a more elaborately designed, iron lattice-girder bridge. The Bank of Queensland failed in July 1866, bringing about a halt to funding for the project. The state government was reluctant to take on responsibility for the bridge’s construction because it didn’t want to incur debt. The timber bridge quickly succumbed to marine woodworm and began to progressively collapse. The council wasn’t able to fully repair the structure and its remnants took two years to fall away into the river.
In 1871, an English company, Peto, Brassey and Co, agreed to complete the bridge. A new crossing, opened on 15 June 1874 by the Governor of Queensland, the George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby, was an iron structure and a toll bridge. The bridge was paid for by significant council borrowings that were to be recouped by tolls. However, a lack of revenue forced its transfer to the Colonial Government. The tolls were abolished at this time. It included a turning span to allow tall-masted river traffic to pass upstream. The position of the swinging span was fixed when the tram lines were laid along the bridge. It carried a 6 in (0.15 m) and a 9 in (0.23 m) diameter pipe which supplied mains water to South Brisbane. This bridge was partially washed away in the 1893 Brisbane flood. [Wikipedia]
Description:
Showing Victoria Bridge from Queen street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Original photo published 1886.
From the collection of:
