Victoria is now united to New South Wales by one of the finest bridges in all the colonies - by the "Union Bridge," at Albury a bridge which is most commanding in appearance, and, as to its workmanship throughout, may be regarded as - and is, in fact - one of the neatest pieces of joinery that any practical hand could wish to criticise; some of the large beams being so nicely spliced as almost to defy detection. The bridge is one hundred and fifty six feet long by thirty wide; it is supported on two piers composed of triple rows of piles, with similar abutments on either side the river: there are consequently three spans of eighty feet each from centre to centre of the piers. The superstructure is composed of three rows of trusses or framework (commonly known as the "double queen" truss), thus dividing the Bridge into two roadways. This portion of the work gives the idea of great solidity, being supported by numerous suspension bars of great strength and rigidity. Heavy American wagons passed over the Bridge, while several hundred persons were congregated upon it, and yet there was scarcely any sensible vibration (2).
This bridge served the community well for many years but eventually became unsafe and thus the Colonies of New South Wales and Victoria started working towards a solution. To this end in January 1894 Mr. Catani, Victorian Engineer of Roads and Bridges, was sent up to inspect the Union Bridge, and reported that in his opinion a comparatively small expenditure would be sufficient to make the structure safe for another four or five years. This view being altogether at variance with the opinion of the Public Works Department of the New South Wales Government, it has been decided that Mr. Davidson, Victorian Inspector-General of Public Works, should make a special visit of inspection (3).
On Saturday, February 17 1894, Mr Davidson paid a visit to Albury and inspected the bridge with the grandly named Edmund Caswell Bowyer-Smijth, the Albury District Roads Engineer (4). Mr Davidson admitted the bridge was in a unsafe condition and also admitted that 30 years was the lifetime of the best constructed timber bridge, and with the Union Bridge, which has been in position over 30 years, there were several conditions justifying the conclusion that the structure had run its length of time (5).
A month after the visit of Mr Davidson, The Argus reported that - The worn out bridge at Albury, known as the "union bridge", continues to stand while the two colonies, Victoria and New South Wales, are engaged in discussing whether it should be repaired or replaced by a new one. New South Wales favours a new one to cost about £14,000 and requests this colony to bear half the expenditure. Victoria, seeing the necessity for practising economy would rather act on the opinion of Mr Catani, of the Public Works department, that the old bridge can be repaired to last for three years at a cost of £300. Mr Davidson, the inspector general of Public Works, who has seen the bridge, agrees with Mr Catani, but suggests as an alternative that as the present bridge was erected 33 years ago for £7,500 a bridge of equal strength might now be erected for about £4,000 if New South Wales insists on a new structure (6).
It was more than two years later before the two Colonies agreed on the new bridge. In August 1896, The Age reported Mr. Taverner, the Victorian Minister for Works, has had an interview with Mr. Young, Minister of Works in New South Wales, with reference to the erection of bridges over the Murray. The "union bridge" at Albury is in an insecure condition, mainly on account of its age, and an understanding was come to between Victoria and New South Wales that they shall conjointly bear the expense of erecting a new bridge, New South Wales to call for tenders for the work and to supervise the construction. There has been some delay in calling for tenders, owing to a difference of opinion between the colonies as to plans and cost. These have been settled, and Mr. Taverner has received an assurance from Mr. Young that no time will be lost in proceeding with the work (7).
Even after the two Colonies agreed, it wasn't until nearly one year later that the contractors were ready to start and that was in July 1897 (8). All this time the locals and everyone else who used the main road from Melbourne to Sydney were inconvenienced with an unsafe bridge with severe load limits of which notices to that effect have been posted for some time on the main road in the vicinity of Albury. Heavily-laden wool teams have today been turning back from the bridge, the drivers being afraid to cross (9).
The Albury Banner had a full description of the new Union bridge -The bridge, when completed, will be one of the finest in Australia. It consists of two truss spans of 110ft. each, two beam spans of 35ft. each, and one of 30ft. The width of the approach span is 28ft., and the main spans are 24ft. This is from kerb to kerb. These spans rest on three sets of cylinders, one set on each bank, which is solidly set on foundations of piles and concrete. The centre pier is placed in the middle of the stream, and in order to secure a solid foundation the contractors had to sink to a depth of 48 feet below the bed of the river. On the up stream side of the bridge there is a footway constructed over four feet wide. This will permit foot passengers to cross at any time independent of other traffic.... The timber used for trusses, girders, &c, is ironbark, and for the decking tallow wood has been used. All this had to be brought from the North Coast. Considerable difficulty has been experienced in getting the larger timber for girders, and it this that has caused the unfortunate delay in getting on with the work. It was thought that the bridge would be opened for traffic before the close of the year, but as the approaches on the Victorian side will not be finished until some time in January, there is no possibility of the new bridge being available for traffic until the latter end of that month. The bridge has been built at the joint cost of the two Governments, and will amount to close upon £7000. The Victorian approach will cost £900 extra, the contractors for which are Messrs. Toner and Mongan, who are pushing rapidly on with the work. The contractors for the bridge are Messrs. J. B. and W. Farquharson (10). Farquharsons were experienced bridge builders and in the 1890s had also built bridges on the Murray River at Swan Hill and Tocumwal (11).
On December 21 1898, Ernest Macartney de Burgh, the New South Wales Department of Public Works Assistant Engineer for Bridges, together with Mr Bowyer-Smijth, made the final inspection of the bridge (12). On December 30, Mr Davidson went to Wodonga to take over the work on the Victorian side from the contractor (13). The bridge was thus at long last finished and was opened for traffic on December 31 1898 (14). Demolition of the old bridge began in early January (15). As a matter of interest Carlo Catani and Ernest de Burgh were also both involved in two other projects - in 1900 on the bridge over the Murray between Koondrook and Barham ( read about this here) and in 1912 when Victoria was developing a policy on outer ports in towns such as Warrnambool and Mallacoota. At that time (1912) de Burgh was the Chief Engineer for Harbours in New South Wales (16).
The locals wanted a grand opening ceremony, in fact they wanted a ceremony with befitting eclat (17) and the Shire of Wodonga and the Borough of Albury agreed that the day should be January 26, Anniversary Day and the 111th anniversary of the foundation of the mother colony (New South Wales) (18). They hoped to invite the Premiers of both Colonies. The Albury Banner said the opening ceremony would be a good opportunity to keep claims of Albury well to the front, and it should not be allowed to pass by unnoticed. Albury is destined to become an important inland city of Federated Australia, and that whether it is made the capital or not of the new nation (19).
Alas, the hopes for a grand opening of the new bridge were dashed when the Premier refused to attend. The New South Wales Premier, Sir George Houston Reid, is reported as saying that - he understood the bridge had not been opened for traffic when he was first communicated with. He had since been informed that this bridge had been opened some weeks ago for traffic. Under those circumstances he declined to come, and it would be absurd in the face of it to ask a representative lot of gentlemen to come all the way to Albury to take part in a second hand ceremony. If the mayor and aldermen wanted an opening, it was their own fault they did not find out when the bridge was to be finished, so that the Government of each colony might have taken part. They could have obtained that information very easily by walking to the bridge and asking the Government officer in charge, or by writing to the department in Sydney (20).
The second Union Bridge was replaced in 1961.The Premier of New South Wales officially opened the replacement bridge on April 7, 1961 and the old bridge was later demolished (21).
Trove list - I have created a short list of articles on Trove about the Union Bridges, you can access it here.
Footnotes(1) Albury Banner & Wodonga Express, December 9, 1898, see here.
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