Pitfield Bridge, is a riveted

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

Warren truss Warren Errol Truss, (born 8 October 1948) is a former Australian politician who served as the 16th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in the Abbott Government and the Turnbull Govern ...

road bridge, located over the

Woady Yaloak Creek The Woady Yaloak River is a perennial river of the Corangamite catchment, located in the Western District Lakes region of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features The Woady Yaloak River rises below Black Hill, west of Ballarat ...

on the Rokewood-Skipton Road near Pitfield in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

. The bridge was originally constructed in the late 1850s, by the Woady Yallock Roads Board, and modified later in the century by construction of a large riveted wrought iron truss span. A wooden bridge was evidently in place in 1859, when the Victorian parliament called for the approaches to the bridge to be improved. The bridge is on the same road as

McMillans Bridge McMillans Bridge, is a riveted wrought iron open web truss bridge, located over the Woady Yaloak River on the Rokewood-Skipton Road between Rokewood and Werneth on a historical route between Geelong and the 1850s goldfields at Ararat and Strea ...

which was erected by the Victorian Central Road Board around the same time to a design of

Charles Rowland Charles Hedding Rowland (December 20, 1860 – November 24, 1921) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Biography Rowland was born in Hancock, Maryland. He moved to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, i ...

, a student of prominent colonial engineer

David Lennox David Lennox (1788 – 12 November 1873) was a Scottish-Australian bridge builder and master stonemason born in Ayr, Scotland. Personal details Trained as a stonemason, Lennox worked on Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge at Anglesey in W ...

. Repairs, presumably to the timber spans, were made in the same year, suggesting the bridge had already been standing for some time. Repairs were eventually carried out in 1863. Later in the century the timber span was replaced with a riveted wrought iron truss designed by Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson for the Shire of Grenville. Wilson was influenced in this bridge design by the efficient and lightweight truss designs of Professor

W. C. Kernot William Charles Kernot (16 June 1845 – 14 March 1909), was an Australian engineer, first professor of engineering at the University of Melbourne and president of the Royal Society of Victoria. Early life and family William Charles Kernot, eld ...

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. He was also a particularly prolific Victorian shire engineer, whose career spanned more than 50 years. The bridge was on a historical route between

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

and the 1850s goldfields at

Ararat Ararat or in Western Armenian Ararad may refer to: Personal names * Ararat ( hy, Արարատ), a common first name for Armenian males (pronounced Ararad in Western Armenian) * Ararat or Araratian, a common family name for Armenians (pronounced A ...

and Streatham. A notice of £400 being allocated to the bridge suggests the new trusses were installed in 1898. However, repair works on the bridge were also carried out in 1900. Parliament of Victoria, ''Votes_&_Proceedings'' 1900 Division No. 63. ROAD WORKS AND BRIDGES. p.82
/ref> In 1967, the Rokewood-Skipton Road was realigned at Pitfield and a new bridge was built over the Woady Yaloak Creek. The timber deck has a single layer of longitudinal planking on timber cross beams, which are bolted to the flanges of the truss top

chords Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ...

. Most of the timber has now rotted away. The bridge has two spans of 26 metres long with a deck about 7 metres wide. The wrought-iron Warren trusses are of unusually light construction, with each member sized according to the relative force applied. The Bridge is registered by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's I ...

References

;Notes * Colin O'Connor, Spanning Two Centuries, Historic Bridges of Australia. University of Queensland Press, 1985. p. 103 Road bridges in Victoria (state) 1859 establishments in Australia Bridges completed in 1859 Bridges completed in 1898 Victorian Heritage Register Truss bridges in Australia {{VictoriaAU-struct-stub