Canning Highway
(Until 1937, Canning Highway was known as Lower Canning Road, Canning Road and Perth Fremantle Road)
Canning Highway was largely a poorly constructed roadway up until 1927 when the newly formed Main Roads Board commenced what was regarded as a high priced project to reconstruct eight miles of the alignment from Petra Street (East Fremantle) to Suburban Road (now Mill Point Road, South Perth). The cost of £9,000 per mile threatened to become a public scandal. Part of the high cost was that the road was constructed to a higher standard than any previous road in Western Australia to cater for heavier traffic and to have a longer life.
The main connection between Fremantle and Perth had been Stirling Highway and this attracted most traffic, despite a bridge over the lower Canning River, since a timber bridge was opened in December 1849. The bridge had been built by Solomon Cook for a cost of £400 over a four month construction period.
At the time of the Main Roads Board works, Canning Bridge was in its third version with a convict built bridge having been built in 1867 and then replaced in 1908. The current pair timber bridges were built in 1938 and 1958 with both being widened in 1965.
The Main Roads Board works on Canning Highway were very labour intensive with rocks spalls being laid by hand on compacted earth and the spaces filled with napped stones. The bitumen for the Macadam surfacing was manually poured after being heated in road side kettles.
The 1920’s work on Canning Highway also involved use of standard grades which meant significant earthworks such as in the section from Preston Point Road to Rome Road.
Development along Canning Highway had been slow. Up until 1907 there was no urban development along Canning Highway between South Terrace, South Perth and Canning Bridge.
In 1914 the Canning Bridge Subdivision was marketed on both road access and ferry access in contrast to Applecross which was solely marketed on its ferry connections.
When the new bridge was constructed across the Canning River in 1938 the old bridge was left in case the new bridge was damaged during World War II.
Author: Chris Fitzhardinge
11 June 2020
