The iron framed Brunton’s Bridge is undoubtedly one of Gippsland’s engineering icons. It was opened in 1888 on the road from Toongabbie to the Walhalla goldfields.
Mr Mephan Ferguson, (Great-Grandfather of VSF forester, and later CFA Chief Fire Officer, Euan Ferguson) built the bridge under contract from the Public Works Department at a cost of £4690.
It’s said to be a replica of the Victoria Bridge over the Yarra near Melbourne and has a total deck length of 217 feet 7 ½ inches. It’s 18 feet wide and nearly 50 feet above the Thomson riverbed.
Six iron columns support the steel substructure with four steel spans which are thought to have been manufactured in England.
Red gum planks 5 inches thick were laid diagonally across red ironbark bearers on the top of the main girders which were secured by wrought iron bolts.
But the timber decking was destroyed during the 1939 bushfires and the bridge remained abandoned.
Restoration was planned after the successful re-decking of Poverty Point Bridge further up-stream by the Forests Commission, earlier in 1976
Many groups worked together on the restoration including Army Reserve’s 91 Forestry Squadron (The Woodpeckers), 39 Electrical and Mechanical Squadron based in the LaTrobe Valley, the Forests Commission at Erica, the Shire of Narracan, APM Forests, the National Trust, Latrobe Valley Historical Society, and engineering students from the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education at Churchill, who tested the bridge structure before work began.
Between 17 October and 12 November 1979, the Woodpeckers prayed hard for good weather to cut the timber from nearby State forest for the bridge deck. Major Oliver Raymond, who normally worked as a forester for APM at Maryvale, led the project. Construction work at the bridge site was done by 39 E&M Squadron.
Later in 1982, the bridge was listed in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR H1450).
The timber parts of the bridge, including beams, decking and handrails, were once again destroyed by bushfires in 2006 and have been replaced with steel decking and handrails.
Source: RAEAV photo collection PV 1074
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 