First Creek Bridge, Adelaide, SA
First Creek is one of the tributaries to the River Torrens. Part of the creek was included in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens when the gardens were established in 1854. With the creation of Botanic Park in 1873 a carriage drive constructed to link Frome and Hackney Roads.
The original bridge was constructed from vertically laminated timber.
In the early days of the colony authoriti4es identified the need a cheap and reliable form of construction to replace the iron construction that needed to be shipped from Britain.
Edmund Wright, an engineer and architect, wrote an essay that identified laminated timber arch bridges as suitable.
Fifteen horizontally laminated timber bridges were constructed however durability issues led to vertical laminations being adopted with the ends protected by iron to prevent the ingress of water.
The laminated timber superstructure was replaced in 1954 with a concrete deck carried on five steel beams.
