A bridge over troubled waters

I saw in the news last night that Kirwans Bridge near Nagambie has been closed to road traffic, after many years of being a vital passage for road users from one side of the Goulburn River to reach the local township of Nagambie.
Apparently the current bridge is unrepairable. Without the bridge the local residents are being forced to drive the back-way to Murchison or around the dirt roads behind the Goulburn to Chinaman's Bridge to reach the township - turning a 10 minute journey to 40+ minutes.
The bridge was the host of the longest lunch held in March every year. It is a piece of history.

The 310 metre long Kirwans Bridge is situated over the Goulburn River at Bailieston near Nagambie. It was opened in 1890 to provide access to Nagambie and the railway for the mining areas of Bailieston and Whroo.

In 1955 the bridge was modified by the construction of a new superstructure, in which its timber beams were replaced by rolled steel joists placed over the ancient piers, and its deck narrowed to a single lane, with passing bays maintaining the full 21 feet (6.3 metres) original width. The bridge retains its original forty-eight spans of sixteen and a half feet (5 metres), and its original seven main river-channel spans of thirty-three feet (10 metres). Its tall timber trestles are largely immersed under Lake Nagambie. Remnants of its original squared beams and strutted corbels - one of only two remaining examples in Victoria - are clearly visible beside the bridge. The bridge features a mid-stream bend, and is also unique in its incorporation of two vehicle passing-bays. It is set at the northern arm of Lake Nagambie, a very popular boating and fishing venue.

It is of historical significance as a work directly associated with Alfred Deakin’s dream of a great ‘National’ irrigation system based upon the construction of the Goulburn Weir. Consequently, with nearby Chinamans bridge, it was built entirely with Victorian government funds, a factor in its large size.

So significant was the access to Nagambie it provided, for those living on the west of the Goulburn River, that a threat to the bridge's continuing future in the mid-1950s led to a municipal secession movement that enlarged the Shire of Goulburn at the expense of Kirwans’ original builders, the Shire of Waranga, it remains a memorial to that municipal protest.
Kirwans Bridge is also one of a unique group of four large timber road bridges from the 1890s, of contrasting types, located on the Goulburn River between Seymour and Murchison; this is the last remaining group of large old timber river bridges in Victoria. It is of scientific significance as one of only two extant Victorian timber bridges retaining vestiges of a colonial 'strutted-corbel' type of river-bridge design. Only at Kirwans and the Jeparit Bridge is it now possible to study examples of this historic European form of timber-bridge craftmanship.

Although its visual effect is not greatly different from that of the equally rare and historic ‘strut-and-straining-piece’ design of nearby Chinamans Bridge, the detail and mechanics of the stringer-support system are structurally different. Kirwans Bridge also provides a remarkably successful example of engineering adaptation to changing vehicle needs, over more than a century. It has an exceptionally long timber deck; no road bridge in Victoria is longer.

Kirwans bridge was busy with traffic on the day I took the photos in 2008.
Info from The Bridge's Facebook page and Heritage Victoria's significance statement

Grand plans

Further news on the Droylsden building.

According to the newspaper, the historic building will be restored to its former glory, and become an allied health service for the Wimmera.

Barry Sherwell & his wife have bought the building and plan to renovate it to provide consulting rooms for psychologists, physioptherapists, social workers, speech pathologists, podiatrists and other allied health professionals.


They say they realise there will be challenges to the restoration - making the building structurally sound for one, but that it is something they are passionate about.
They plan to use local tradesmen to restore the building and open in approximately six months.
I just hope that all these cornices and ceiling roses will survive.

RHSVs facade

I had a meeting in Melbourne on Thursday (well two actually) and the second one was at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. The Society which began in 1909 is housed in the former headquarters of the Australian Army Medical Corps. Built on the corner of William & A'Beckett Streets it is an art deco building - even the air ventilation grills have an art deco curve to them. Our meeting was held upstairs in the Sergeants Mess.

The Society who promote & preserve the history of Victoria, are currently holding a display on "Beyond the facade" the book on the history of the Flinders Street Railway Station.

New neighbours

Droylsden - the beautiful architecture of one of Horsham's heritage homes.

A local retired farmer from Lower Norton -Mr Sidney Rawlinson Smith built Droylsden in Baillie Street, in 1930. The family sold it in 1954 when they moved to Geelong.
It was used by the Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative between 1987 and 2006.

However, the house has been in a state of disrepair for several years. Vandals have smashed many of the windows, and gained entry on a number of occasions. This led to wire screens & particle board being erected on some of the windows.

The vandalism rose to another level when a fire inside the building was reported a couple of years ago. The Fire brigade had trouble gaining entry due to the screens and locks.

Droylsden was auctioned last Friday. A Horsham landmark property, it was constantly referred to by the auctioneer a as a piece of local history of which the new owner would be the curator.

Located within CBD, with Western highway exposure (read constant truck brake & exhaust noise) as well as ample parking at the rear,(provided you don’t take all the library car spaces).

Main dwelling is on a 1050 square metre title of two allotments, consisting of a double storey brick veneer residence with timber floors, 5 bedrooms, 3 living areas and a kitchen and dining room, 2 toilets and one bathroom.

Second dwelling contains four consulting rooms with kitchenette and bathroom.

Outside there is parking on site, a small garden shed and a large shed with a concrete floor, shower and toilet facilities.
About 40-50 people attended the auction with two main bidders. The auction stalled at $252,000 and negotiations continued between the Federal Government (over the phone to Canberra) and the highest bidder. The reserve price had been $350,000. Over the weekend the people who had put in the $252,000 bid negotiated to buy the property for an undisclosed amount (which was below the reserve).
Fortunately the new owners are not going to demolish the building despite it needing extensive repairs, but they will need lots of man-hours and money.

And where does the name Droylsden come from?
Well there is Droylsden a town within the Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated 4 miles (6.6 km) to the east of the the centre of Manchester, and has a population of 23,172.

The origins of the township are obscure. Some believe that it existed back to the 7th century AD. There are various interpretations of the meaning of the name. It could mean Drygel's valley - 'Drygel' being a companion of war -or dry valley or dry spring - 'dryge' being Old English for dry.

Historically a part of Lancashire, it was during the 1830s and 1840s that Droylsden grew as a mill town around the construction of large factories, the establishment of cotton mills, and labour from the surrounding areas, helped to increase the population.
The first terry towel - the first machine woven towel in the world - was produced in Droylsden in a specially adapted loom.
Droylsden has notably been home to a Moravian community since 1780s, and which still exists to this day. It was Moravian missionaries who set up and ran the Ebeneezer Aboriginal Mission at Antwerp.


Towards the end of the 19th century the close-knit community of Droylsden was beginning to decline, feeling that Manchester was drawing life away from the township.

In the early 1930s, Droylsden's population expanded rapidly, as it became a housing overflow area for neighbouring Manchester. Today Droylsden has become fourth in size and population of the '109 Urban Districts in the County of Lancashire'.