| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY
Lennox Bridge lies over the Parramatta River on the traditional lands of the Burramattagal, a clan of the Dharug nation (Attenbrow, 2010). The river and its associated tributaries are an important landmark in the cultural landscape, providing critical resources and transport routes. The name Parramatta derives from Burramatta, a Dharug word meaning 'place where the eels lie down [to breed]' (City of Parramatta, 2021).
Parramatta has long been a place of gathering, ceremony and song for Aboriginal people across NSW. Archaeological evidence of charcoal found at Parramatta indicates that campfires have been lit there for almost 30,000 years (Parramatta River Catchment Group, 2021). Thousands of artefacts have been uncovered in the nearby Parramatta Sand Body, providing a rich portrait of Burramattagal life over tens of thousands of years (Quinn et al, 2023).
Despite significant change, Aboriginal people remained in the Parramatta area through the colonial period and into the modern era, maintaining strong ties to Country through to the present.
SETTLEMENT OF PARRAMATTA
Early attempts at farming were not successful in the earliest years of the NSW colony. As part of attempts to remedy this, Governor Phillip led two excursions west along the Parramatta River and found excellent conditions for crop growing. Aboriginal fire-burning and land management techniques had resulted in open areas that appealed to the settlers. Phillip ordered a small settlement to be built at Rose Hill which was renamed Parramatta in 1791 (Liston, 2019 and Jackson, 2022).
The settlement established at Parramatta in 1788 was at the head of navigation for the river. Whilst most of the town development was on the south side of the river, the government soon used the northern side for a gaol and an experimental garden.
By the 1830s Governor Macquarie had built the Female Factory for convict women, a toll road had been established for the route to the Hawkesbury and a Roman Catholic chapel and cemetery had been constructed. South of the river, Government House dominated the western hillside and George Street led down to government buildings, mills and a wharf on the river. Church Street had developed into the main retail area of the town. A more substantial bridge across the river was needed to take advantage of the lands there (Kass, 1996 and Liston, 2019).
DEVELOPMENT OF BRIDGES IN NSW
Bridges constructed in NSW prior to the 1830s were relatively simple forms. The majority of these were timber structures, with the occasional use of stone piers. The first bridge constructed in NSW was built in 1788 - a simple timber bridge constructed over the Tank Stream, near what is today the intersection of George and Bridge Streets in the Central Business District of Sydney. Soon after it was washed away and needed to be replaced. The first "permanent" bridge in NSW was this bridge's successor. This was a masonry and timber arch bridge with a span of 24 feet erected in 1803, however this did not demonstrate a high standard of engineering, as it collapsed after only three years' service (Roads and Maritime Services, 2012).
DAVID LENNOX
David Lennox (1788-1873) was an experienced bridge-builder, born at Ayr in Scotland, who arrived in Sydney in August 1832. He was a master mason and had already occupied responsible positions in Britain for more than twenty years, working on many bridges, including Thomas Telford's major suspension bridge over the Menai Straits and the 46 metre span stone-arch bridge over the Severn River at Gloucester (Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2024).
Lennox was soon appointed as a sub-inspector of bridges by the Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell, and then NSW Superintendent of Bridges, in 1832. Lennox was responsible for a range of bridges in timber, stone and brick, of which three major stone bridges survive - Lennox Bridge, Glenbrook (1833), Lansdowne Bridge, Lansvale (near Liverpool) (1836) and Lennox Bridge, Parramatta (1839), his last bridge in NSW before moving to Victoria (Roads and Maritime Services, 2012).
David Lennox died on 12 November 1873 and was buried in old St John's cemetery, Parramatta (Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006). In 2025, a Blue Plaque was installed near Lennox Bridge by the NSW Government to honour David Lennox's remarkable contribution to colonial bridge-building and engineering.
LENNOX BRIDGE
Lennox Bridge is on the site of the earliest documented bridge of the Parramatta River in the Parramatta area. The current bridge is the third on, or adjacent to, the site. The first was a simple timber footbridge which was destroyed by floods in 1795. The second bridge, called the Gaol bridge, was built on stone piers with timber railings and was completed between 1802 and 1804. By 1836 work had started quarrying stone for a new bridge to be built parallel to the old bridge (Liston, 2019 and TKD Architects, 2017). Archaeological work in 2014 revealed that parts of the 1804 bridge were retained inside the walls of Lennox's bridge (Sydney Morning Herald, 4 December 2014).
Lennox prepared preliminary designs for the new bridge for Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell, and gained approval for his design by May 1836. Stone was sourced from the quarry near the Female Factory on the north side of the river and work was done by convict gangs of masons and labourers, often in chains. bridge was built in two halves, perhaps because of the urgency of a replacement bridge and the complicated political and financial approvals needed for the project. The bridge was completed in 1839 (Roads and Maritime Services, 2012).
By the 1840s the northern side of the Parramatta River was attracting a growing population. As original landowners died, the estates were subdivided, and businesses opened along Church Street north of the river. The roads to Windsor, Pennant Hills and Castle Hill led through valuable orcharding country. A new road, Victoria Road, followed the river into the northern side of Parramatta and Lennox Bridge provided the gateway into the town (Kass, 1996).
Major work on the bridge was required when the tramway from Parramatta to Baulkham Hills was built across the bridge in 1902, remaining in operation until 1927. Widening of the bridge due to increased traffic occurred in 1912 with the removal of the western parapet and addition of a cantilevered footpath with an iron hand railing and in 1934 with widening works on the western side in the form of a concrete extension faced with a sandstone veneer and a concrete balustrade to replace iron handrail (Roads and Maritime Services, 2012).
LATER HISTORY
After a series of major floods in the 1980s and 1990, a hydrology study suggested that removal of the Lennox Bridge would reduce the flood risk. Community opposition saw the proposal shelved in favour of retention basins being constructed upriver.
Parramatta City Council's decision in 2010 to extend the foreshore pathways as portals through Lennox Bridge at Parramatta prompted controversy, with concerns regarding the impact to the heritage significance of the bridge. During construction, archaeologists found timber and stonework form the original western wall of the 1804 gaol bridge and the 1830s bridge (City of Parramatta, 2014).The portal project designed by Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects won several awards in 2016 including the NSW Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Awards for Adaptive Reuse and Urban Design and the National AIA Award for Urban Design (Hill Thalis, 2017).
In 2024, as part of the Parramatta Light Rail project, a light rail and pedestrian zone was established on Church Street between Market Street and Macquarie Street including the Lennox Bridge which serves as a crossing for light rail, pedestrians and emergency vehicles only (NSW Government, 2024). |