Victoria Bridge, Brisbane

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, to be financed by unsold crown land in South Brisbane which was transferred to the Corporation of Brisbane under the terms of the Brisbane Bridge Act of 1861.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-10-31|title=The Fascinating Story of the First Victoria Bridge|url=https://highgatehill-historical-vignettes.com/2020/11/01/the-fascinating-story-of-the-first-victoria-bridge/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124232404/https://highgatehill-historical-vignettes.com/2020/11/01/the-fascinating-story-of-the-first-victoria-bridge/|archive-date=24 November 2020|access-date=2021-02-15|website=Highgate Hill and Its History|language=en}} £70,000 worth of borrowings was acquired from the Bank of Queensland{{cite book |title=The Making of a Metropolis: Brisbane 1823—1925 |last=Laverty |first=John |year=2009 |publisher=Boolarong Press |location=Salisbury, Queensland |isbn=978-0-9751793-5-2 |pages=156–157 }} secured by mortgage of the bridge lands. Work began on the foundations for the first bridge across the Brisbane River, then known as the Brisbane Bridge, on 22 August 1864.{{cite book |title=Brisbane 150 Stories |year=2009 |publisher=Brisbane City Council Publication |isbn=978-1-876091-60-6 |pages=36–37 }} The contractor, John Bourne, offered to convert the scaffolding he was constructing into a temporary bridge.{{Cite news|date=1864-12-17|title=PROPOSED TEMPORARY BRIDGE OVER THE BRISBANE.|pages=2|work=North Australian (Brisbane, Qld. : 1863 - 1865)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77438411|access-date=2021-02-15|archive-date=3 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303235652/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77438411|url-status=live}} In return for this and an annual payment to the council, he was allowed to charge a toll. This timber structure opened in June 1865. The Bank of Queensland suspended payments in July 1866 and the shareholders decided to wind the bank up, bringing about a halt to funding for the project. The Queensland 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 wood worm Teredo Navalis and began to progressively collapse.{{cite book |title=The Brisbane River: A pictorial history |last=Longhurst |first=Robert |author2=William Douglas |year=1997 |publisher=W.D. Incorporated Pty Ltd |location=Brisbane |isbn=0-646-34472-2 |pages=23}} The council wasn't able to fully repair the structure and its remnants took two years to fall away into the river, along with some components of the partly built iron bridge. After the bridge collapsed on 16 November 1867, the public had to resort back to using ferries to cross the river.

File:BrisbaneHorseTramVictoriaBridge1890.jpg

Following resolution of the issue of the debt owed to the liquidators of the Bank Of Queensland in 1871, an English company, Peto, Brassey and Co, agreed to complete the bridge. The new crossing was opened on 15 June 1874{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1384537 |title=The Opening of the Bridge. |newspaper=The Brisbane Courier |date=16 June 1874 |access-date=7 October 2012 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303235652/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1384537 |url-status=live }} by the Governor of Queensland, George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby who gave it the name "Victoria Bridge", and was an iron structure and a toll bridge.{{cite book |title=Brisbane's historic North Bank 1825–2005 |last=Hadwen |first=Ian |author2=Janet Hogan |author3=Carolyn Nolan |year=2005 |publisher=Royal Historical Society of Queensland |location=Brisbane |isbn=0-9757615-0-1 |pages=62–65 }} The bridge was paid for by significant council borrowings that were to be recouped by tolls.{{cite book |title=Shaping a city |last=Cole |first=John R. |year=1984 |publisher=William Brooks Queensland |location=Albion, Queensland |isbn=0-85568-619-7 |pages=19 }} However a lack of revenue and widespread community objections to the tolls forced its transfer to the Colonial Government. The tolls were abolished at this time. The bridge included a turning span to allow tall-masted river traffic to pass upstream. A condition of the original Bridge Act was that the bridge "would not obstruct the navigation of the river Brisbane by sea-going vessels". Over time, the swing was little used and subsequently water and gas pipes were laid across it. After the Council lost a court action in 1885 brought by a ship owner when it refused to operate the swing, the Government swiftly passed legislation fixing the bridge.{{cite news|date=26 September 1885|title=QUEENSLAND PARLIAMENT|volume=XXVI|page=4|newspaper=Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser|issue=3636|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130396235|access-date=15 February 2021|via=National Library of Australia}} The next year, tram-lines were laid along the bridge.{{cite book |title=Living History of Brisbane |last=Hogan |first=Janet |year=1982 |publisher=Boolarong Publications |location=Spring Hill, Queensland |isbn=0-908175-41-8 |pages=45, 77, 124 }} It carried a {{convert|6|in|m|abbr=on}} and a {{convert|9|in|m|abbr=on}} diameter pipe which supplied mains water to South Brisbane.{{cite journal |journal=Brisbane:Water, Power and Industry Paper No. 20 |editor=Carolyn Fitz-Gerald |title=Floods, water quality and river crossings, Mount Crosby 1890–1931 |last=Oliver |first=Bill |year=2008 |publisher=Brisbane History Group |location=Kelvin Grove, Queensland |isbn=978-0-9751793-3-8 |pages=31 }} This bridge was partially washed away in the 1893 Brisbane flood.{{cite book |title=Brisbane Then and Now |last=Gregory |first=Helen |year=2007 |publisher=Salamander Books |location=Wingfield, South Australia |isbn=978-1-74173-011-1 |pages=8–9 }} In the meantime, ferries were used to transport people and goods across the busy river. This, however, led to the capsize of the ferry ‘’Pearl’’ disaster in 1896 with the loss of more than 40 lives. A temporary wooden structure was built covering the collapsed section of the old bridge while the new bridge was being built.{{cite news|date=5 September 1893|title=VICTORIA BRIDGE.|volume=XXXV|page=5|newspaper=Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser|issue=5020|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123350840|access-date=15 February 2021|via=National Library of Australia}}

{{Clear|left}}

File:BrisbaneCombinationTramVictoriaBridge1906.jpg

File:StateLibQld 1 101716.jpg

File:View of the William Street end of the Victoria Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, ca. 1910.jpg

File:View of the second Victoria Bridge in Brisbane, 1954.jpg in the foreground, 1954]]

{{main|Victoria Bridge Abutment}}

Another replacement bridge was built and entered service in 1897,{{cite news|date=25 June 1897|title=Opening Victoria Bridge.|volume=XLIII|page=13|newspaper=The Week|issue=1,122|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190515596|access-date=15 February 2021|via=National Library of Australia|archive-date=3 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303235653/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/190515596|url-status=live}} lasting until 1969, when it was demolished. This second bridge was designed by Alfred Barton Brady. It was constructed of steel and wrought iron (superstructure),Brady's drawing number 5, "Elevation of W.I. parapet" in {{Cite QSA Item|328500|Architectural plans}} cast iron (structure) and stone (abutments and wing walls - purple hard stone/porphyry, brown freestone and Portland cement)"Portrait of a bridge. Ephemeral silhouettes of Brisbane's Victoria Bridge" by Daria Gomez Gane (c) 2008 - in preparation and had two carriage ways and two footpaths. As early as 1943 evidence of the bridge buckling from the weight of increased traffic was noticed. Tram numbers on the bridge had to be restricted and cars limited to the outer lanes as a result.{{cite book |title=Shaping a city |last=Cole |first=John R. |year=1984 |publisher=William Brooks Queensland |location=Albion, Queensland |isbn=0-85568-619-7 |pages=162 }}

A portion of the southern abutment of the previous bridge remains adjacent to the current bridge, including a pedestrian arch, a short remnant of tram track and a memorial to Hector Vasyli, a young boy who was killed in a traffic accident at that point when waving to servicemen returning from the First World War. The abutment is heritage-listed.

{{Clear}}

File:Victoria-Bridge Brisbane.jpg

Planning commenced on a new bridge in 1953, however in 1957 an inspection revealed that there had been no deterioration since 1949, and with careful maintenance, its life would be indefinite.{{Cite news|date=1953-07-06|title=Monster structure will replace Victoria Bridge|pages=5|work=Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217198698|access-date=2021-02-16|archive-date=3 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303235657/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/217198698|url-status=live}} A new bridge, which was opened on 14 April 1969, was needed to meet growing traffic demands. It cost A$3.2 million and featured a modern design which has been described as sleek and elegant. For a short period both bridges were open, each operating in one direction only.

{{Portal|Queensland}}

• Bridges over the Brisbane River

{{-}}

{{reflist}}

14 Gomez Gane, Daria (c) 2007 (2019) Portrait of a bridge. Ephemeral silhouettes of Brisbane's Victoria Bridge p. 68. {{ISBN|978-0-6485936-0-7}}

{{Commons category|Victoria Bridge, Brisbane}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/history-brisbanes-victoria-bridge/|title=History of Brisbane's Victoria Bridge|website=John Oxley Library Blog|publisher=State Library of Queensland}}
• {{cite web|url=http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/2012/02/06/destruction-of-the-victoria-bridge-1893-brisbane-flood/|title=Destruction of the Victoria Bridge: 1893 Brisbane Flood|website=John Oxley Library Blog|publisher=State Library of Queensland}}
• [https://buildings.slq.qld.gov.au/feature.html?id=7680d508-5b4d-44e1-b3f7-471aace5f741 Victoria Bridge (Second) Discover Queensland Buildings website]
• {{Structurae|id=20004717|title=Victoria Bridge}}

{{Brisbane bridges navigation}}

Category:Bridges in Brisbane

Category:Bridges completed in 1969

Category:History of Brisbane

Category:Bridges over the Brisbane River

Category:Concrete bridges in Australia

Category:Road bridges in Queensland

Category:South Brisbane, Queensland

Category:Brisbane central business district

Category:Former toll bridges in Australia