Sportsmans Creek Bridge, Lawrence, 1911

ABOUT THE BRIDGE:

The plan for a bridge over Sportsmans Creek to replace the Sportsmans Creek Ferry met with a series of delays through the 1880s. A Bennett type timber truss bridge was opened finally in 1885 (Evening News 4 Sept 1885, p.7). However, the structure soon showed signs of deterioration.

This fine structure is, of course, as yet in good preservation, being comparatively new, but the late dry and excessively hot weather has caused the large horizontal timbers to gape on the upper aide; The rain thus finds access to the heart of the logs; their position and the fact of their being sound on the under‐side will cause the water to remain and rot the wood. This could be prevented and the bridge saved from premature decay by simply filling the Crevices with coal tar and apply(ing) a coat of same to the whole of the upper surface of the bridge. Will anything be done in time? (Clarence & Richmond Examiner 26 March 1889, p.2)

It appears that the condition continued to worsen. In 1904 the bridge was re‐decked (Clarence and Richmond Examiner 17 May 1904, p 5), but condition had deteriorated to the point of danger by 1909 (Examiner 16 Feb 1909, p.4). Traffic appears to have been increasing and the condition of the approaches was regarded as poor. Tenders for the replacement “composite truss” bridge were let in August 1909 (Northern Star, 24 August 1909, p. 3) and the winning bid (by Oxenford Bros, £3480) was accepted the following month. In 1911 the Examiner described the bridge as follows:

The present bridge has served for close on a quarter of a century, and it is proposed to supersede it with a new structure, which will consist of two composite truss spans of 104ft. 9in. each, and three approach spans, one of 28ft. and two of 30ft., truss of spans to be 21ft. 8in. apart, truss to be 13ft. deep, and to have eight panels of 13ft., the‐ carriage way to be 18ft. in the clear. (Examiner 19 August 1909)

The new Sportsmans Creek Bridge was built on the same alignment as the original bridge. This approach allowed the re‐use of the central pier from the first bridge construction. During this time it was reported that the Government had not made any provisions to make the approaches up to the level of the deck of the new structure (Clarence and Richmond Examiner, 6th January 1910).

Oxenford Bros was a major bridge‐building contractor responsible for other timber bridges in the 1910s and 1920s (including over Mullumbimby Creek and the Emigrant Creek Bridge between Ballina and Lismore). The firm may have been associated with the Oxenford family sawmilling business in Crabbe’s Creek.