Notes on Monash bridges in South Australia.

Hindmarsh [River] Bridge, Victor Harbor.

University of Melbourne Archives BWP/23746
Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co.

This bridge was known to Monash and his colleagues as "The Hindmarsh Bridge", but it must not be confused with the bridge of that name carrying Port Road over the Torrens near the Adelaide suburb of Hindmarsh (see below). Monash's bridge carries a railway over the Hindmarsh River near the town of Victor Harbor. It has five spans, the inner three being shown on a drawing of 5 Feb 1907 as 30'-4" (9.25m) and the outer ones as 28'-10". (8.79m). These correspond with the figures given in Colin O'Connor's "Spanning Two Centuries: Historic Bridges of Australia", University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1985, pp.160-161. The client was the South Australian Railways represented by A. B. Moncrieff, who signed himself "Chief Engineer, South Australia". The SARCC engineer in Adelaide was W. W. Harvey. Their foreman for most of the project was Tom McCartney.

The earliest record in the RCMPC files is a blueprint of the site sent by Moncrieff to Monash in July 1906. Monash prepared initial computations and sent off the resulting design "in accordance with best European practice for railway bridges" advising that the price would be under £3500. Moncrieff replied that though he could not guarantee that Monash's tender would be accepted, it was safe for him to visit the site and continue with detailed design. The submission of the tender on 26 December 1906 was followed by technical correspondence between the two on design principles: Moncrieff urging the use of simply-supported rather than continuous girders, and questioning Monash's design for impact loading, shear strength, and pile capacity. Monash pointed out that his design was based on the Imperial German Regulations for Reinforced Concrete issued by the Ministry of Public Works, Berlin in April 1905. "These are not only the most authoritative, but also as a whole the most stringent Regulations hitherto published." Agreement was reached by early February 1906 and the documents signed on 4 March for a price of £3560.

University of Melbourne Archives BWP/23747
Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co.

This is the most 'architectural' of Monash's bridges. The piers are solid, thick walls - seen here at low water. The bridge is on the skew, with the piers parallel to the stream flow; but the ends of the pier walls are kinked in plan so that their end faces are parallel to the girders. The walls are topped by a string course. There is a baluster at each pier, supported on twin scrolled corbels. In most T-girder bridges produced by RCMPC, the edge of the deck cantilevers straight out from the edge girder (e.g. Strathallan 1). Here, the outer side of the girder is given a generous curvature, and the underside of the deck is merely suggested. The low 'parapet' required to retain the ballast for the track has string courses to emphasise the horizontal line.

Monash sent the design to Gummow Forrest & Co in Sydney and in April they (probably their chief engineer W. J. Baltzer) advised further strengthening. Casting of piles seems to have commenced in May 1907, and driving in June. Problems with crushing of the piles led to a halt in construction to allow more time for the concrete to gain strength, and questions in Parliament as to whether the bridge would be ready for summer traffic by the contract date in September. In August, Monash wrote to Harvey that "punctual and rapid completion" was of the utmost importance "from the point of view of gaining credit in the public mind for strict fulfilment of obligations". "We should aim at utmost speed practically 'regardless of expense' ".

Pile driving was completed in September and concreting of the first span commenced. The fifth span was concreted on 2 October. Moncrieff applied pressure to have the bridge opened to traffic as early as possible. This was resisted by Monash and his staff, who wanted to allow the concrete to gain strength. Ten ballast trucks passed over on 10 October and Monash agreed to let light locomotives cross from 4 November. The formal test, with two locos, took place on 28 November. Harvey reported that the government officers were very impressed with the job and especially with the performance of the piles.

University of Melbourne Archives BWP/23751
Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co.

The historic images above, and many more, can be found in the University of Melbourne Archives Image Collection UMAIC with Record ID UMA/I/6200, 6202, 6205, 6209, 6213 to 6224, 6199, 6204, 6206, 6207. Any enquiries to UMA regarding these images should quote Location Numbers BWP/23736 to 23755 respectively. Further images held by UMA have Location Numbers BWP/24365, BWP/24434 to 24436, and GPNB/1131. Most of these show the bridge under construction and under test by locomotives and trains. These and additional images may be found also through Picture Australia.

Research by Lesley Alves revealed references to progress in the "Southern Argus" on 30/5, 27/6, 4/7, 25/7, 29/8, 3/10, 17/10, 18/11, and 28/11/1907. The bridge was fully written up in the journal "Building" of January 1908, pp.54-6. The "Victor Harbor Times" of 23/8/1912 reported that seismograph readings had been taken on the bridge in the presence of the Chief Engineer. The Victor Harbor line now serves as a tourist railway and the bridge is listed in O'Connor, C. "Register of Australian Historic Bridges", Institution of Engineers, Australia and Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra, 1983.

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Thebarton-Hindmarsh Tramway Bridge, Adelaide.

University of Melbourne Archives BWP/23774
Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co.

Two more historic images may be found in the University of Melbourne Archives Image Collection UMAIC with Record ID UMA/I/6228 and 6529. Any enquiries to UMA regarding these images should quote Location Numbers BWP/23773 and 24366 respectively.

This bridge is normally referred to in the RCMPC files as the "Thebarton Bridge". It was built in 1908 to carry the tramway over the Torrens River, joining Manton St, Hindmarsh with Holland St, Thebarton. The client was the Adelaide Municipal Tramway Trust whose chief engineer, (Sir) W. G. T. Goodman, MICE, MIEE, signed himself "Electrical Engineer" [ADB]. His civil engineer was a Mr Bowman. The SARCC's engineer resident in Adelaide at the time was W. W. Harvey and their foreman on the job was Tom McCartney. The bridge has three spans of 38 feet (11.6m) and is 16 feet wide (4.88m). According to the Hindmarsh Heritage Survey a duplicate tramway bridge was built in 1922 to join Orsmond St, Hindmarsh to Cawthorne St, Thebarton. Both were still standing in 1996 when Lesley Alves conducted her research.

Initial feelers concerning the original bridge were put out in August 1907. Goodman also approached Gummow Forrest & Co. in Sydney, who let Monash know of this. It took some time for the parties involved to reach a decision on whether the local Councils would participate (in which case the bridge would be more ornamental, with provision for general traffic as well as trams) and to decide whether it should be an arch or a T-girder bridge. Bowman was keen to have a single arch with a span of 100 feet. Monash, as usual after 1903, argued strongly for the T-girder alternative for economy and efficiency. Foundation conditions and waterway requirements clinched the argument, but vigilance was required to ensure the specification was written so as to leave an opening for the RCMPC design. Their drawing of 14 April 1908 showed two versions: 38 feet between railings to carry road traffic and trams, or 16 feet wide to carry only trams.

Sets of calculations are preserved in which Monash studied the effect on the girders as the load of a tram moved across the bridge. On 2 July 1908, he wrote to Harvey that most of the detailed design work and requisitions for materials would come from Melbourne, leaving a few type details for the Adelaide office. The tender was accepted for the tram-only version, and the first requisitions were issued in July 1908. Work was completed in December and Monash commented that photographs showed "this work will be very creditable architecturally". Two years later, on the expiry of the maintenance period, representatives of the Tramway Board and SARCC inspected the bridge and "found no structural faults whatever". The cost was £1550.

Bibliography.
Dallwitz, J. and Marsden, S. 'Hindmarsh Heritage survey', 1985.
Parsons, R. 'Hindmarsh Town', 1974, pp.204-205, 266.
Ross, B. 'Hindmarsh, Heritage of a Township, 1838-1938'.
Thebarton Heritage Study.
Lewis, M. '200 Years of Concrete', 1988.
National Trust File 3276.

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Port Bridge, Port Adelaide.

Steel girders being placed on the piers built by SARC.
University of Melbourne Archives BWP/23724
Reinforced Concrete & Monier Pipe Construction Co.

Another historic image is held by University of Melbourne Archives UMA with Location Number BWP/23723, showing a closer view of the pile caps.

This railway bridge over the Port River, Port Adelaide, was known to SARCC as the "Port Bridge". Monash heard news of it in December 1908 and proposed ten reinforced concrete T-girder spans of approximately 30 feet (9.1m). He made calculations on 31 January and 1 February 1909 and suggested a price of £13400 which included a healthy allowance for contingencies and profit. Chief Engineer Moncrieff felt this was too high and put government engineers to work to design steel girders for an alternative superstructure. While the two principals considered their positions, the government designers increased the spans to 34 feet, a more appropriate figure for steel girders. Monash decided his firms "at the present stage of our development" could not take responsibility for reinforced concrete girders of such span subjected to railway loads. He tendered for the reinforced concrete piling, piers and abutments at a price of £5772. The contract was signed at the end of August 1909 and the first pile was driven on 14 October. The job was "basically finished" in August 1910.

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