Bunbury Bridge was a single-track, timber railway bridge in

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. The bridge crossed the Swan River near

Claise Brook Claise Brook is a stream which empties into Claisebrook Cove before running into the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. The area surrounding the stream is on the outskirts of the Perth CBD and is part of the suburb of East Perth. Claise ...

and was built for passenger and freight traffic to Bunbury on the

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

. Originally called ''Swan Bridge'', it was built in 1892 by Atkins and Law. Construction was delayed due to troubles with sinking the

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with rough, fibro ...

piles into the soft riverbed: they were intended to be sunk below the water level, but reached this depth under their own weight as soon as they were put in position. Ultimately, they had to be driven to before a solid footing was found. The bridge was opened as part of the Perth to Bunbury Railway, which was officially opened on 8 September 1893 by Governor Robinson. Following concerns for its safety, a so-called "temporary" replacement bridge was built between 1930 and 1932. After 63 years of use, the temporary structure was closed when a new concrete railway bridge opened in 1995. The old timber bridge was demolished in early 1996.

Windan Bridge The Windan Bridge is a six-lane road bridge in East Perth, Western Australia which crosses the Swan River and forms part of the Graham Farmer Freeway. Opened in 2000, it sits next to the Goongoongup railway bridge which was built in 1995. A ...

, which opened in April 2000, is immediately adjacent and carries road traffic from the

Graham Farmer Freeway The Graham Farmer Freeway is a inner-city freeway in Perth, Western Australia. It links the Mitchell Freeway in West Perth to Great Eastern Highway and Orrong Road in Burswood, providing an east–west bypass of the Perth central business d ...

References

{{coord, -31.94794, 115.88286, display=title, format=dec East Perth, Western Australia Railway bridges in Perth, Western Australia Bridges completed in 1898 Bridges completed in 1932 Armadale line South Western Railway, Western Australia Burswood, Western Australia Buildings and structures demolished in 1996 Former railway bridges in Australia Demolished bridges in Australia Bridges over the Swan River

See also

References