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Read more about the article Building the Hexham Bridge over the Hunter River

Building the Hexham Bridge over the Hunter River

Long before anybody considered building a bridge across the Hunter River at Hexham, people crossed by punt. A convenient crossroads and staging point between Newcastle, Maitland and Port Stephens - and between Sydney and Brisbane - Hexham was settled by Europeans in the 1820s. It soon had a railway station, a handful of industries and facilities for loading coal aboard small ships. Hexham punt, 1904. Photo by Ralph Snowball. Early photo, circa 1910, of a car leaving the steam punt at Hexham. Photo by Ernest Docker According to the December 1946 issue of the NSW Department…

Continue ReadingBuilding the Hexham Bridge over the Hunter River
Read more about the article Bridging the Hawkesbury River: Part 3

Bridging the Hawkesbury River: Part 3

In the early days of European settlement in the colony of New South Wales, the only way to travel from Sydney to the "Coal River" - later to be Newcastle - was by sea. And that was fine by the colonial government, since the northern settlement was chiefly valued as a remote prison camp for the worst of the colony's convicts. Escaping overland from the Coal River was at first dangerous and often fatal. Newcastle was a punishment camp for the worst prisoners Over the years some convicts did manage to find their way back to…

Continue ReadingBridging the Hawkesbury River: Part 3
Read more about the article Bridging the Hawkesbury River: Part 1

Bridging the Hawkesbury River: Part 1

When the first railway bridge over the Hawkesbury River was opened on May 1, 1889, it completed the final link in a rail system that linked NSW with South Australia, Victoria and Queensland - albeit not with uniform gauges. Official souvenir brochure to mark the opening of the first Hawkesbury River railway bridge. The rail line that linked Homebush (now known as Strathfield) with Waratah had been one of the toughest pieces of railway engineering yet tackled in the Australian colonies (Australia as a nation had not yet materialised). With river crossings to make and tunnels…

Continue ReadingBridging the Hawkesbury River: Part 1
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