YOURIPSWICH.COM BECAUSE ITS YOUR IPSWICH

1864-65 Bremer River bridge abutments and the three bridges.

Bremer River Bridges 1864-65, 1897, 1915

History:
Three bridges have been constructed at this point to cross the Bremer River. In 1864-65 a bridge was constructed with three 150 foot (46 m) iron spans and 65 feet high that combined both road and rail traffic. This bridge was designed by Fox and constructed by Peto, Brassey and Betts for a cost of 19,700 Pounds. In 1897 a separate bridge up stream of the first was built for a single the railway line, with the first bridge then becoming road traffic only. In 1915 the abutments of the 1897 were extended on the upstream side to take the third bridge which carried another railway line. Only the third bridge is in use today.

Description:
Only the stone abutments of the earlier bridges remain. The 1864-65 bridge abutments, on the down river side and separate from the later bridge abutments, are composed of grey white, medium to pebbly sandstone blocks showing cross bedding. The sandstone blocks are weathered and vegetation is growing out of the structure. This sandstone is reported to have been quarried on Denmark Hill and is very similar to that of the abutments of the Heiner Road overbridge over the Wharf Branch line (Hancock's Railway siding) on the north bank of the Bremer River.
The 1897 Railway bridge abutments are constructed of a reddish brown coarse grained sandstone showing no obvious structure and more resistant to weathering. This sandstone was obtained from Wright's Quarry at Helidon except for a small quantity from Jude's Quarry. The 1915 abutments which carry the present railway bridge are an upstream extension of the 1897 abutments constructed of concrete with some of the displaced sandstone blocks used in the upper part of the bridge.
The present railway bridge has three, through, Pratt, metal trusses each 45.7 m in length resting on cast iron cylinders. It carries a single railway track and a footpath on the down-river side.

Significance:
The 'Old Bremer RIver Bridge' was the first permanent crossing of the Bremer River joining North and South Ipswich. It was the first shared road/rail bridge to be built in Queensland. It was reported in the London Illustrated Newspaper.

1865 Wood Cut Print of Old Bremer Bridge