Children from Moruya Public School and Moruya Preschool will walk on Friday, December 9, to the Moruya Bridge to celebrate its 50th anniversary. They will walk from their schools at 11am. Eurobodalla Shire Council is having a cake made and will host a sausage sizzle. With thanks to Christine Greig Adams for the following pictures and this short history of the bridges spanning the Moruya River.
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The first bridge was opened on January 26, 1876, after Mr Henry Clarke campaigned for a better crossing.
Mr Clarke arrived in the district in 1842 and bought land at Bergalia in 1861.
At that time, the river was crossed at low tide at a ford. From the early 1850s, there was also a punt. Saddles were removed from horses so they could swim across.
The first bridge was 17 spans, each 50 feet, 6 inches long, built of the finest ironbark and spotted gum timber.
Messrs Kingdom, Turner and Waddle, of Goulburn, took 12 months to build the bridge.
Its opening in 1876 was recorded in the Moruya Examiner as having “a true holiday atmosphere, with boat racing, foot running and other sporting events, picnics along the foreshore, a regatta on the river and a large procession through town”.
“A grand ball was held at night after the banquet at the Adelaide Hotel ... Henry Clarke made an appropriate speech and Mrs Clarke broke the traditional bottle of champagne over the new handrail.”
Frequent floods caused bridge instability and, by 1899, it became known as the ‘shaky bridge’. Users were requested to cross at walking pace.
It was replaced by a second bridge, with cast iron piers, opened on December 8, 1900. The Mayor, Mr J Emmott, welcomed the Hon W H Wood, Minister for Justice, to open the bridge.
A large procession walked and rode from the council chambers. After the ceremony, the procession crossed the bridge and turned down Vulcan Street to the park, for a picnic and sports.
The second bridge survived successive floods between 1922 and 1944, but finally collapsed under the pressure of logs and debris that had washed down the river on April 9, 1945.
A ferry service was used until a temporary bridge was built. Flood debris continued to cause trouble until 1962, when railings were cut to allow logs and debris to pass.
Tenders for a steel girder bridge were called in 1964. Transfield Pty Ltd won the contract for £225, 000.
The new bridge – 892 feet long with handrails on the foot paths – was opened on December 9,1966.
