Railways and Tramways of Australia

Bridge fail

The first railway bridge across the Hawkesbury River was opened on 1 May 1889.

Completion of the Hawkesbury River bridge connected Brisbane with Sydney by railway via Tamworth. It was the longest bridge in Australia until the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932.

The first Hawkesbury River railway bridge was designed and built by the Union Bridge Company of New York. It consisted of seven spans and six piers, and had a total length of 2900 feet (884 metres). Each span was assembled on a pontoon and then towed into place. The rock bed of the Hawkesbury River was around 90 metres below the level of the water. Foundations were laid on coarse sand, and were the deepest of any bridge in the world.

To mark the opening of the bridge a grand banquet was held on a barge moored at Dangar Island. Among the official guests were New South Wales Governor Lord Carrington and Premier Henry Parkes. During the banquet Parkes proposed a toast to a united Australia.

Concerns were raised less than 12 months after the opening of the bridge. Some of the piers were in an unsatisfactory condition and repairs were made. Considerable strengthening work was undertaken in the 1920s. However, a serious crack was noticed in No. 4 pier in 1937. Further cracks also developed. Inspections found that the original work on the bridge was of such poor quality that a new bridge was required.

Construction was undertaken, and the new bridge was opened in 1946. The spans of the old bridge were removed in 1947 and 1948, while the piers remain to this day and can be viewed from passing trains.

Repair work had kept the first Hawkesbury River railway bridge in use. But the original work was at fail standard.

Bibliography

B Phippen, Between a rock and a hard place: building the Hawkesbury River bridge, exhibition programme, Train Works, 2012.

B Phippen, The Hawkesbury River railway bridges, Australian Railway Historical Society, Sydney, 2000.

I Wallace, ‘Hawkesbury River to Woy Woy’, In Byways of steam 10, Eveleigh Press, Sydney, 1995, pp 6–44.

Last train crossing the first Hawkesbury River bridge hauled by C32 Class locomotive 3374, 1 July 1946. Photo: NSW State Archives, NRS-17420-2-22-708/030.