| Historical notes: | The North Richmond bridge is the crossing of a powerful waterway which has always been important to the movement of the local community and movement over the Great Dividing Range via the Bell's Line of Road, marked in 1823, which became an important stock route in the nineteenth century. It was a strategic second crossing over the Great Dividing Range during World War II. The bridge on Kurrajong Road over the Hawkesbury River was built during 1904 and 1905 by the Department of Public Works. It replaced an earlier, lower bridge, in an effort to ensure that floods did not prevent crossing of the river. The Hawkesbury River defines the topography and the history of the Sydney area. The Hawkesbury area was originally home to the Darug and Dargingung peoples. Deerabubbin was one Aboriginal name for the river. Early in the white settlement of Sydney it was important for transport and farming, particularly of wheat and maize, which were established on its fertile flats in the 1790s. By the 1860s the river was a centre for recreational activities. The river has been subject to serious pollution and siltation as a result of settlement and farming but is still highly significant for its natural values, recreational and other uses. (Rosen 1995, pp.1, 66, 72-7, 151-5) In June 1789 an exploring party under Governor Phillip rowed up the Hawkesbury, which they had named three weeks earlier, to the mouth of the Grose River, on the way camping at and naming Richmond Hill. In 1794 Governor Grose placed 22 settlers along the banks of the river in the area of present-day Windsor. As settlement developed, the Hawkesbury district became the chief granary of the colony - produce being transported along the river - and remained so until serious attacks of rust in the 1870s resulted in the abandonment of wheat growing in the area. Vegetable growing replaced the wheat farms and also focussed on the Sydney market, requiring extension of the nascent irrigation system. Richmond was established by Governor Macquarie in 1810, with Windsor, Wilberforce, Pitt Town and Castlereagh. The Macquarie towns were established on high ground and intended partly as a refuge for farmers in future floods. Boat building has been an important industry there. Gold discoveries west of the mountains (by 1851) made Windsor and Richmond the ‘gate keepers’ of roads to the north and the west with the increased traffic providing impetus for the development of road and river-crossing development. (Regional Histories, 1996, pp. 23-4, 34-5) A Royal Australian Airforce Base and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, established in 1888, are situated close to the town. Despite the steady encroachment of new residential estates on Richmond and Windsor over the last decade and currently, the two towns retain much of outstanding heritage value, have a distinctive visual identity and are still separate from the urban sprawl of north western Sydney. Until 1860 the Hawkesbury, both at Windsor and Richmond, could only be crossed by ferry. The first bridge over the Hawkesbury at Richmond was planned in 1857 and completed by 1860, partly in response to increased traffic over the range due to the several goldrushes. It was constructed by the specially formed Richmond Bridge Company chaired by William Bowman. The timber bridge was damaged recurrently by flooding of the river; the floods of 1867 and 1870 washed away large areas of the bank. In April 1871 the inhabitants of Windsor, Richmond and Kurrajong and other road users "begged for the restoration of the privately constructed bridge which connected Richmond with the Bell's Line of Road", locals in the western side unable to access the supplies needed for daily living, and those from the north west bringing their livestock over the range to market via the Bell's Line of Road finding themselves unable. In 1876 the Government purchased the timber bridge and restored, raised and extended it to better cope with flooding. However, in 1900 the decking of the bridge was again severely damaged in flood and the river bed had silted up so far that the slightest fresh was stopping traffic. In 1905 the subject bridge was built a few metres upstream, at an even higher level. Remnants of the older bridge can be seen when the water level is low. (Rosen, 1995, pp 65, 66, 76-7; Jack, 1990, p. 163; Bowd pp. 61-2) Premier Sir John See turned the first sod for the construction of the existing bridge over the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond in January 1904. It was opened in September 1905, its construction costing 20, 224 pounds. It was Australia's largest reinforced concrete bridge and remained so for twenty-five years. (O'Connor, 1985 p. 42) Despite being a higher level crossing than its predecessor, the bridge was still designed for flood waters to flow over it, featuring a lowerable handrail. Until 1933 the bridge was allocated its own caretaker who was responsible for general maintenance and had special duties in flood, including lowering and raising the handrails at the appropriate times, making sure that all floating logs were passed under the bridge or diverted to calm water and preventing the public, including nearby campers, from coming to harm in flood or fire involving the area around the bridge. In the late 1920s applications for the position of caretaker were received from applicants from as far afield as North Sydney, Botany and Wollongong, many of whom were veterans of the First World War. The last two caretakers were Francis Gavin, and a Mr Donohoe. A major change to the fabric of the bridge occurred with the addition of a rail bridge to the structure in 1926, part of the short-lived Kurrajong Line. The Kurrajong Line closed in 1952 and in 1956 plans were set in motion to utilise the disused rail bridge for vehicular traffic in conjunction with straightening out the four lethal right-angle turns in the approach from Richmond. (RTA File 91.1528) The river has been an important source of building sand throughout the life of the current bridge. In the late 1920s a sand extraction business operated near the bridge that supplied sand for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, among other projects. Recurrent controversy over the proximity to the bridge at which sand dredging operations may be conducted safely is recorded in the RTA files. In 1964 the Bridge Engineer of the Department of Main Roads (DMR) expressed the opinion that some dredging would have a positive effect on the bridge by reversing the effects of siltation, others begged to differ, including the North Richmond Progress Association, The Terrace Development Association, Colo Shire Civic Association, Kurrajong District Improvement Association and the Yarramundi Progress Association, their members concerned for the bridge and about other environmental and public amenity affects. An application to dredge was approved by Windsor Council in 1969, while Colo Council was not consulted, and the coverage in local papers was very negative. The issue has continued to arise. (RTA File 91.1528) In past decades the community, local Government and DMR have also debated the recreational use of the bridge for swimming and fishing, whether to ban diving off and swimming around it. (RTA File 91.1528) Floods continue to disrupt traffic crossing the bridge as frequently as once a year and scouring of the banks and silting-up have continued to be problematic. In 1929 there were repeated requests by Colo Shire Council to the Main Roads Board for a boat for crossing the river when in flood. It was asserted by the Council that such a boat had been provided until 1912, and was necessary for the amenity of Colo residents. By 1950 there was some community demand for a high-level bridge at North Richmond, as the subject bridge was frequently under water. In 1978, several options were mooted for new bridges further south, to provide flood-free access to the western side of the river, but no plans for its replacement were made at that stage. Many North Richmond residents, whose only other access to the city is through Penrith, continue their campaign for a new bridge, others see the current bridge and its flooding as a part of the Hawkesbury way of life. (RTA File 91.1528) Whilst the current release strategies followed by Sydney Water are aimed at reducing the incidence and severity of flooding in the Lower Hawkesbury, flooding of the Richmond Bridge will continue to cut this route. |